HIV infection during dental work

Hi All,

I'm posting the following question on behalf of my sister. She is a handicap.
Last November 2010, I brought my sister for a dental work at a local dental clinic. It was just a normal dental work and she was bleeding after the dental work.

Recently, in the newspaper there was an article mentioning about 2 individuals got infected with HIV from dental work.
The news can be read at this link :
http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/18hiv/Article/
http://www.healthxchange.com.sg/News/Pages/How-did-we-get-HIV.aspx

After reading this news, I recalled my sister's visit and got panicked. What if my sister become as a victim?

My question : Can HIV spread during dental work assuming that the previous patient has HIV?
Pls assess my sister's case and I'm really worried about her.

Thank you

[agonghelp]

Hi All,

I've searched the whole forum to get some answers for my question but yet to view any similar cases and inputs.
Hope the moderators in this forum can provide some of their inputs.
I can bring my sister to get tested as she away over the window period but I'm worried what if she becomes an victim.
I'm completely in panic mode now and not sure what would happen if things go wrong the other way.

[Vance2335]

1st we can't speculate on things like this. Your sister did not have a risk.

[ricky_id]

Medical personnel has been trained to sanitise equipments before use, and even if the equipment hadn't been so, there's no way HIV could find its way into your sister because:
1. upon contact with the air, HIV virus immediately becomes uninfectious instantly
2. saliva blocks HIV transmission
3. the medical personnel could find his/her way to jail for negligence if reported and proven!

[agonghelp]

Thanks guys for the reply. Really appreciate the help!

[agonghelp]

Hi Guys,

I braved myself to bring my sister to a hospital which provides rapid test for hiv.
My sister's last visit to dentist was 11-Nov-2010.
She had the rapid test today : 02-May-2011 roughly after 170 days(~24 weeks).
The result came back as NON REACTIVE. Thank god.

My question : Is 24 weeks Rapid Test for HIV result conclusive?

Thanks again for the wonderful support in this forum.
You guys are great!

[facebook701]

IT IS NOT ONLY CONCLUSIVE IT IS CERTAIN.YOU CAN MOVE ON WITH 100 PERCENT CONFIDENCE YOU DO NOT HAVE HIV.EVEN YOU DONOT NEED TESTING AT FIRST PLACE.