Thousands of patients are in anxiety after receiving a letter from the dental office from the Maubeuge (North) hospital center. The document sent to 4,200 people invites them to be tested against HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C due to a risk of contamination following their passage in this dental office.
“An inspection led by the Hauts-de-France Regional Health Agency (ARS) highlighted deficiencies in the sterilization of certain instruments used for dental acts. This sterilization defect was able to lead to a risk of transmission of certain viruses, ”it was written in the mail that we were able to consult.
“My dental care was made two years ago”
Karine is one of those to have received this letter: “My dental care was made two years ago to the old hospital. I will go to my doctor to see what he thinks and if I will do the tests, I prefer to do them for nothing but not at all. You can no longer even treat yourself properly, ”plague the patient on Facebook.
The risk of contamination is deemed “tiny”. “This is 0.003 % for HIV, 0.005 % for HCV, and 0.3 % for HBV,” says the Maubeuge hospital center quoted by our colleagues from La Voix du Nord. But the people concerned are invited to get closer to their attending physician and to be tested as a safety measure – the screenings are covered by health insurance.
“We have been doing it for years”
What happened? Last January, the ARS led an inspection within the establishment and found that the dynamic instruments were disinfected, “but not sterilized”, explains La Voix du Nord. “We have been doing that for years,” defends Cyril Lenne, the director of the Maubeuge hospital center, with our colleagues.
The fact remains that the procedure was not respected, which today leads the ARS to communicate to patients in the dental center. Since then, the sterilization circuit has been “immediately” revised, it is specified in the mail. An information cell (03 27 69 44 80) has been set up.