The Pennsylvania Department of Health has recommended that patients of a Reading, PA, dental clinic be tested for hepatitis and HIV after an investigation discovered that the clinic did not follow appropriate infection-control procedures.
The department is recommending that patients seen at the Center for Family and Specialty Dentistry in Reading between December 19, 2015, and October 19, 2016, should be tested for HIV and hepatitis B and C. An investigation found that the dental practice did not follow appropriate procedures to properly clean, disinfect, or sterilize devices.
While the health department prefers patients be contacted directly by the involved practice, that did not happen in this instance, so the department has contacted the practice's patients, stated Health Secretary Karen Murphy, RN, PhD, in a press release.
The center was closed in October 2016, and three dentists who practice there have had their licenses temporarily suspended, according to the department.
