A child has tested positive for Hepatitis C after receiving treatment at an Orillia dental office, the health unit says.
In a letter to the editor sent out by the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit (SMDHU) on June 22, the health unit confirmed a child is one of two individuals who tested positive for Hepatitis C after receiving dental care at Joe Philip and Associates dental office between Jan. 1, 2012 and Dec. 18, 2017.
SMDHU first made a recommendation that patients be tested for Hepatitis and HIV back in February after an investigation by the Public Health Unit revealed patients who attended the clinic between the listed dates may have been exposed to dental instruments that were not cleaned and sterilized properly.
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According to SMDHU, improper cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of medical and dental instruments can spread infectious diseases such as Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C and HIV to patients. While the health unit says the risk of transmission is low, it is not zero.
After the original recommendation for testing was made, the health unit received a report that two individuals tested positive for Hepatitis C.
The health unit has now confirmed that one of those affected is a child. According to SMDHU, the child’s mother verified that the child received dental treatment at the clinic during the period of concern. After the child tested positive for Hepatitis C, the mother was subsequently tested, however, she tested negative.
“The Canadian Pediatric Society has stated that in Canada, almost all childhood cases of hepatitis C are transmitted from the mother to child during pregnancy and at birth. However, the mother’s negative test for hepatitis C indicates that the child did not contract hepatitis C during pregnancy or at birth,” the letter from Dr. Colin Lee, associate medical officer of health at the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit, reads.
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Philip has continued to defend his practice, and has served the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit with a $10-million lawsuit over what he says was a “mishandling of the investigation into his dental clinic.”
In a statement released Friday, Philip says the sterilization procedures at his clinic met or exceeded the requirements by the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario, and said the claims made by the health unit were “irresponsible.”
“The health unit’s irresponsible and unfounded statements pose a serious risk to the genuine health and well-being of Ontarians by distorting the facts to claim there is a risk of Hepatitis C transmission where there are no facts to suggest at any time any instruments used in my practice were not adequately sterilized,” Philip said in the statement.
Philip says he has and continues to meet or exceed the Royal College of Dental Surgeons of Ontario’s Infection Prevention and Control in the Dental Office sterilization protocols, which require sterilization well beyond a degree necessary to avoid blood to blood contact among patients.
According to the release, the clinic has also had a third party look at the SMDHU investigation results. Dr. John Hardie, a retired former Chief of Dentistry at two teaching hospitals, reviewed the allegations.
“I have reviewed the detailed allegations made against Dr. Philip’s practice by the Health Unit and cannot see where the Simcoe Muskoka District Health Unit has any reasonable or probable grounds to believe there is any change of a health hazard based on their own admission of Dr. Philip’s sterilization practices,” the release reads.
Hardie says the health unit’s claims are not supported by any infection prevention and control peer-reviewed literature or best practices.
However, despite Philip’s rejection of the claims, the health unit continues to recommend anyone who received treatment between the noted dates be tested by their health-care provider.
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