Public Health and Dental Patient Protection

Patients of an HIV positive dentist who found themselves to be infected with the virus claimed that the dentist transmitted the virus due to lax infection control practices but new findings dispute these claims. There are so many differences that set this case apart from a similar case that happened earlier involving another HIV positive dentist who indeed caused his patients to contract the virus. This site teaches you about tooth implant sydney.

It was important to see if the dentist carried the same HIV strain in question and so the health department and federal centers used DNA sequencing in their research. Zero similarities were found with regard to the HIV DNA that affected the dentist and the strain that his patients carried.

Each patient was determined to have contracted the HIV virus from other sources other than the dental clinic and even the unsanitary dental implants had no influence over the matter. This follow up helps put the investigation in better perspective. Physicians should not be forced to have their health assessed before treating patients especially since the risk of getting infected by a dentist is very low.

Implementing mandatory health exams for physicians came about as a result of the effort given by one of the six patients infected by the first dentist right before she died. With a service record lasting over 30 years the other dentist worked with a group of indigents a majority of whom had AIDS. The dentist died in a hospice after being infected with HIV for three years. To get a closer look on implant dentist sydney visit this site.

24 out of the 19% of patients he treated during his last five years of service tested positive for the HIV virus after getting tested. Later on the virus infected another four of the dentist’s patients. 24 from all 28 HIV positive patients came out to have potential behavioral risks and this information came from the studies that were conducted. When DNA sequencing was applied no evidence was found linking the strains of HIV from the dentist to his patients.

For the dentist to be guilty of spreading the disease to his patients test results should have shown only one single HIV strain. Each one who had HIV contracted the virus from a different source than the rest and this can be supported by findings where no single strain was found to be the same. Researchers, though, acknowledged that dental instruments contaminated with blood or tissue could transmit HIV between patients.

Controlling people’s misconceptions about the dental field may now be possible especially with the dawn of new evidences according to AIDS experts. There may be additional evidences according to the director of the HIV sequence database and analysis project that will further support the information released by the center for disease control. His quasi governmental organization tracks different strains of HIV.He says that on the other hand, it doesn’t mean that by the turn of the century, when the number of cases has doubled, that we won’t see another case like this case. For the American dental profession which handles more than 400 million patient visits each year and has conducted a safe practices campaign of late, the study comes as good news.

The visibility of infection control procedures in the dental industry is greatly appreciated by people today as these were not witnessed some years back especially now that the case is closing. There is always the argument pertaining to people’s right to be informed and so one of the lawyers who prosecuted the case warns against giving false security by neglecting regular physician health assessments. Exposing these patients to such a risk is not only the fault of the dentist who transmitted the virus but much of the blame should also be placed on public health services as they did not act to secure these people.