Inadequate infection control practices caused an HIV positive dentist to face problems pertaining to some patients contracting the virus but current research findings show that he was not guilty of the charges. When earlier findings from a similar case with an HIV positive dentist infecting patients were analyzed the resulting conclusions showed how the two cases came from opposing poles.
New findings came about when federal centers and the state's health department were able to determine the strain of HIV that infected the dentist through DNA sequencing. A lot of opposing elements emerged from the strain of HIV carried by the dentist and the strain that infected his patients.
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. The new findings can help put a stop to people's misconceptions. There are times when mandatory health exams are simply a waste of time especially since this tells people that there is very little possibility for dentists to transmit viruses to a patient.
Six people in total contracted HIV from the first dentist and one of these people made an effort to fight for the implementation of mandatory health testing for physicians just before she died. The second dentist has practiced for nearly 30 years and has served a primarily indigent population with a high rate of reported AIDS cases. It only took three years for the dentist to succumb to the HIV he contracted.
19% of the total patients he treated during his last five years as a practitioner received HIV tests and there were 24 of these people who also contracted the virus. There were four who did not get tested but were found to have HIV. All of those who tested positive for HIV were analyzed for potential behavioral problems and 24 out of the 28 were high risk. As an attempt to see whether the HIV strains from the dentist and his patients could be similar DNA sequencing was used but results were inconclusive.
Have the dentist acted as the source of their virus infections then the results should have yielded similar attributes. Everyone who carried the virus got infected by separate sources and this is justified by the series of strains found during testing where no single one matched another. The researchers did not disregard the possibility of contraction from dental implements that may have been in contact with blood or tissue.
With new evidence disputing earlier findings AIDS experts are confident that the fear for dental care will gradually be subdued. 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. Patients of the American dental profession reach 400 million on an annual basis and as they strive to promote safe practices the new information serves to provide the boost they need.
Compared to the situation of dentistry during the previous years things are looking great for the field today with the case closing and infection control procedures being more visible. On the other hand one of the lawyers for the AIDS victim advised against disregarding the need for mandatory health checks as patients still had the right to know about the possible risks carried by their physicians. 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.
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