Is your dentist following proper hygiene practice?

HIV Scare

The naive notions following the spread of HIV are changing. People have begun to believe that only unprotected sex or blood transfusion cannot be the reasons for such an infection and one needs to be ever alert and cautious about this deadly disease.

Though sexual transmission and blood transfusion still remain one of the most common ways of contracting the deadly virus, Dr Simita Madaan, dentist from Axiss Dental Clinic tells Metrolife that the infection can come from seemingly least likely places like a dental clinic or a barber’s shop.

“Dental surgery can transmit HIV and Hepatitis quite frequently as well, “she says, adding that this aspect is now coming to the fore given that “dental check-ups are becoming common in all strata of society and hence the trend of cross-infection is on the rise.”

Studies suggest that at least 2.7 per cent of total HIV infected population is unaware of how they contracted the virus.

Dr Madaan adds, “As a dentist I am always working with saliva or blood, and it is the fastest and most obvious way an infection can enter either the patient or the doctor.”

The alleged spread can be accounted to poor handling of equipment and raises a major concern about safety measures adopted at dental clinics, especially on sterilisation, in the wake of the dental sector in the country being highly unorganised.

The places which demand special care to ward off infection transmission too have high prevalence of patient-to-equipment contacts. Sterilisation of equipment and instruments thus gains a lot of importance at the clinics to keep infections at bay from cross-contaminating.

Dr Ashwin Diwan, senior consultant, Department of Dental Surgery, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital says, “HIV and Hepatitis can spread with a needle prick and we are always dealing with needles, root canals are very common in any dental clinic. May be people know about sterilisation but most treatments are done on trust basis, “ says Dr Diwan adding, “I believe that one should check and cross check about sterilisation practices at the clinic without fail every time.”

Reportedly, in India, 97 percent of dental sector is ruled by unorganised dental players. “While some dental clinics strictly follow guidelines on sterilisation, some don’t. Also, a common guideline gets difficult to be followed in an unorganised set up.

So in the present scenario, having an organised dental environment becomes important, where clinics could follow measures that are aimed at limiting cross-contaminations. Till the time India’s dental space is unorganised, dental chains could actively engage in processes that can minimise the chances of infection transmission,” says Dr Madaan.