The Kingston public health unit is advising patients of a local dentist office to get tested for blood-borne infections.
According to KFL&A Public Health, patients of Dr. Ken Luco Dentistry should get tested for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV. The public health unit says the risk for these infections is low, and they have not found any cases as of yet, but are still recommending patients who used the dentist between Jan. 1, 2010, and Jan. 16, 2019, to get tested.
This stems from a complaint received by KFL&A Public Health on Jan. 15. A member of the public came forward complaining about cleaning practices at the Highway 15 dentist office.
KFL&A Public Health investigated the complaint on Jan. 16, and they say they found incidents of improper cleaning and improper sterilization of dental instruments.
“While the risk of infection at this clinic is believed to be low, the risk to an individual patient depends on the frequency and type of procedures that were performed,” said Dr. Kieran Moore, medical officer of health at KFL&A Public Health.
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Global News spoke with a former patient of Dr. Ken Luco Dentistry, Jennifer Targett, and she says since 2010, she had several visits to the clinic with one major surgery done.
“When I found out there was a chance I contracted hep. B or C or even HIV I began to panic,” said Targett.
This fear was echoed by dozens of concerned Kingstonians on social media who say they had dental work done at the clinic.
The dental clinic was closed immediately on Jan. 16 after the inspection, and Luco was provided with a list of practices that needed to be corrected.
A final inspection was done on Feb. 4, 2019, and the public health unit said that at that time, the dental clinic met the proper cleaning standards and office reopened.