[Question #13897] Blood Borne Diseases

1 months ago

Hello,

I purchased a dental cleaning tool kit off amazon, it comes with medical grade dental cleaning tools. I don't have dental benefits and thought I could clean my teeth better with these. Once I recieved the kit I used one of the tools to clean my teeth. They are sharpe tools that clean teeth/gum lines and it draws blood. The tools come with plastic protective removable pieces on the sharp ends. When I went to use another tool and removed the plastic piece, I could clearly see what was blood inside the end of the plastic peiece. This was a kit that was clearly used, returned, not cleaned and resold. I have made a complaint with the seller. But I am now concerned I could have contracted a blood borne disease such as hepatitis b, hepatitis c and/or HIV. I'm almost certain I'm fully vaccinated against hep b, but will look into confirming this. I am now wondering if there was a risk of transmission and if I should be tested for hepatitis b, hepatitis c and HIV??

Edward W. Hook M.D.

1 months ago

Welcome back to the Forum. I'll be interested to hear what you hear back from the seller- I hope that you mentioned your concerns to Amazon as well. Even if what you saw was dried blood, it is statistically unlikely that it came from a person with HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C. If it did however, the time it took for the instrument to be returned, repackaged and shipped back to you would assure that the infectious material could no longer infect you. In this situation, while I would be unhappy about the possible contamination, I would have no concerns about infection and would not seek testing. Your prior vaccination for hepatitis B is fully protective if you were or are exposed in the future.

I hope that this perspective is helpful. Please let us know what you hear back from the seller and from Amazon. EWH

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