Patients at a Guelph dental practice are being urged to get tested for HIV and other serious infections over concerns some dental instruments at the clinic were not being sterilized properly.
Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health announced Friday that they were sending letters to those who were patients of Guelph Dental Associates between Jan. 21, 2015 and June 21, 2017.
Officials say there is a low risk that those patients may have been infected with hepatitis B, hepatitis C or HIV because of poor instrument sterilization but are still encouraging patients to get tested.
Public health inspectors discovered the issue on Wednesday, after receiving a complaint from a member of the public about the clinic on Tuesday.
Following an inspection, they closed the dental practice, said Dr. Nicola Mercer, Medical Officer of Health for Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health.
“It will be reopened when all equipment is safely sterilized according to the standards of the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario,” she said in a statement.
The public health unit says it’s extending its call centre hours over the long weekend to answer concerns from Guelph Dental Associates patients.
