St. Louis VA may have exposed patients to hepatitis and HIV viruses

Hand-washed dental tools put patients at risk

By Mike Owens - KSDK via Gannett News Service
Posted : Wednesday Jun 30, 2010 8:26:21 EDT

ST. LOUIS — A failure to properly clean dental instruments at the John Cochran Veterans Administration Hospital may have put 1,812 dental clinic patients at risk.

The patients started getting certified letters Tuesday, advising them they may have been exposed to hepatitis and HIV viruses.

Dr. Gina Michael, association chief of staff at the hospital, said the failure happened because some dental technicians thought they were doing the right thing by washing the dental tools themselves.

Michael said the techs were using a sink and strong soap to clean the tools, when they should have sent them to the hospital sanitizing and sterilizing department.

The techs were trying to protect the delicate instruments by doing the cleaning by hand, but instead, they were breaking protocol, she said.
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Hand washed dental tools put patients at risk