UPDATE: Dental Infection Control Breaches Exposes 10,000+ Patients to HIV and Hepatitis

A chain of Sydney dental practices has been found in breach of infection control practices including cleaning and sterilisation. The Gentle Dentist clinics in Campsie and Sussex Street in Sydney’s CBD; Surry Hills and Bondi Junction are listed with Aids Council of New South Wales (ACON) as a provider of  "HIV-friendly" bulk-billed dental work.
NSW Health has begun contacting patients who have had invasive procedures over the past 10 years at The Gentle Dentist of their risk of exposure to hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV as a result of visiting the clinics. Sydney GP clinics are also being contacted about the situation concerning 11,251 patients that may have put them at low risk of a blood-borne virus infection.
NSW Health director of health protection Jeremy McAnulty made a statement this morning.
“Its believed there is a low risk of transmission of infectious diseases in these circumstances,” he said.
“We have no evidence of infection at this point or if any transmission has occurred.”
Dr McAnulty said the main concern was for patients who had undergone invasive procedures.
“The cleaning of instruments, the knowledge of the practitioners and the recording of the results of the sterilising equipment,” he said when asked to list some of the problems which were found at the dental practices.
“We are hopeful that there will be no transmissions but there will be a risk.”
Dr McAnulty wished to reassure the public the risk of transmission was low and that no cases had been reported thus far.
He recommended all patients who had visited the dental surgeries to visit their GP to be tested for HIV as well as Hepatitis A, B and C as a precaution.
A NSW Health press release stated that due to inadequate patient records at Dr Robert Craige Starkenburg’s Bondi Junction and Surry Hills surgeries, it is not possible to determine which patients had invasive procedures.
It is recommended all of Dr Starkenburg’s patients be tested for blood-borne virus infections as a precaution and correspondence has been sent to all patients for which there are contact details.
All dental practitioners are required to comply with the codes, guidelines and standards set by the Dental Board of Australia, including its ‘Guidelines on infection control’.
The Dental Council of NSW has suspended the registration of the Director of the Gentle Dentist, Dr Samson Sing Chan, using its powers to take immediate action to protect the public, as well as four other dentists who had worked at The Gentle Dentist.
A further six dentists from The Gentle Dentist have had conditions imposed on their registration.
Dr Starkenburg was suspended from practice on 2 December 2014.
The Dental Council of NSW has referred Dr Starkenburg and practitioners at The Gentle Dentist who have had action taken against them to the Health Care Complaints Commission (HCCC) for investigation.
Concerned patients can contact the NSW Health helpline on 1800 610 344.