One Thousand Dental Patients Advised Of HIV Risk In Sydney
Almost one thousand dental patients have been contacted by the New South Wales health board after concerns were raised about sterilisation at two clinics in Sydney.
Investigations were carried out after a patient contacted the health board with concerns about cleanliness. Speaking on Friday 17th January, Vicky Sheppeard, director of communicable diseases at New South Wales Health, confirmed that two dental practices had been investigated by public health teams and 980 patients have not been contacted in relation to the matter, with the letters stating that there was a small possibility that patients may have contracted an infectious disease, such as HIV and hepatitis B and C.
The health board has stressed that there is a “very low” risk of infection and added that the letters have been sent more as a precaution to encourage patients to get checked out. The risk has arisen due to the fact that investigators found that equipment was not sterilised properly at the clinics run by Nuha Kamil in Alfred Street and Castlereagh Street.
Sheppeard stated that no infections have been diagnosed yet and added that not all patients were at risk, as many have not had treatment involving the instruments concerned; she said that patients who had undergone treatment such as extraction, where the instruments are actually going into the gum tissue, could be at risk but emphasised that the risk was “very low.”
The Dental Board is now investigating the dentist concerned.
Patients who have been contacted by mail have been advised to contact their GP to undergo screening tests. All those treated at the surgery between 2002 and 2013 have been contacted.
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