Patients at a Calgary dental office and a home-based dental hygiene practise may have been exposed to hepatitis B and C due to improper sterilization practises, reads a warning from Alberta Health Services on Monday.
Officials say the risk is low but anyone who received dental services at Canavina Dental Hygiene Clinic located at 311 Teravista St. N.E. between Aug. 1, 2009 and April 30, 2018 and at 7196 California Blvd. N.E. between May 1, 2018 and Feb. 15 is encouraged to visit their family physician for testing.
It was a home-based dental hygiene clinic that is no longer in operation.
The warning is also in place for patients who went to the Radisson Dental Clinic at 575 28th St. S.E. between April 28, 2012 and May 13.
Officials say the Radisson clinic has since corrected its sterilization procedures and there is no longer an increased risk of infection at that office.
“To prevent the spread of infection from one person to another, equipment used in dental procedures must be cleaned, disinfected and sterilized according to health standards,” said
Dr. Jia Hu, medical officer of health for the Calgary Zone, in a release.
“Although these businesses had sterilization and sanitation processes in place, they did not fully meet the provincial standards, meaning individuals who received dental services through these operations may have been exposed to hepatitis B and C.”
No reports of illness are associated with the inadequate sterilization processes.
