Patrick Denard explains that shoulder replacements may or may not trigger airport metal detectors depending on sensitivity and other metal on your body. There's no special card; just tell TSA if stopped. For dental work, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons and American Dental Association say you don't need antibiotics before procedures unless you're immunocompromised.
Will I set off a metal detector? Well, this really varies based on the sensitivity of metal detector, how much metal you have on your body otherwise, and if you have other joint replacements inside your body. So not everybody who has a shoulder replacement is going to set off a metal detector if they go to the airport. There's no card that can be provided that's going to make that process easier. You simply just have to deal with TSA. If you are stopped, you can tell somebody you have a shoulder replacement. You may get scanned, but it's not going to prevent you from traveling. What about dental work? Do I need antibiotics if I have dental This is a common thing dentists will often say. Hey, you got to talk to your orthopedic surgeon if you have a joint replacement. The American Academy of Orthopedic Surgery and American Dental Association have a joint statement that say that you do not need to do antibiotics in the vast majority of cases prior to dental work. Some exceptions to that may be if you're immunocompromised. So in general, the bacteria in the mouth are not what cause infection in the shoulder, and there's no need to do antibiotics around your dental work.
