[Question #7774] Risk of hiv by anesthesia Vial
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52 months ago
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Dear Dr.
I went to the dentist s few months ago for a dental procedure. This was in Central America but the conditions looked ok. I was given injection of anesthesia in the gums from a vial that i did not see if it was opened. My question is there s chance of hiv surviving in anesthesia vial from previoos clients? Or will anesthesia be enough to kill virus? Is the vial considered a vacuum like syringes?
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
52 months ago
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Welcome to the forum and thanks for your questions. Dental procedures are typically no risk events for in terms of risk for HIV. Dentists typically use disposable needles to inject anesthetics, use single dose vials of anesthetics for doing their procedures and carefully clean and sterilize all material between patients. With the single exception of hey deranged dentist who intentionally infected several patients more than 30 years ago, there are no instances in which dental procedures have been proven to lead to acquisition of HIV.
Your question about the anesthesia is an interesting one. The anesthesia typically used for dental procedures is called lidocaine and lidocaine does have antiseptic qualities. Obvious it would be unusual for lidocaine to be tested for its affect on HIV but in all probability HIV would not live in lidocaine.
My advice is not to worry about the possibility of infection from your dental procedure. Should you have continuing doubts, HIV testing is widely available and at this time more than several months following your procedure the results of HIV testing would be completely conclusive. I hope the information I have provided is useful. Take care. EWH
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52 months ago
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Thank you Dr Hook for your quick response. And can you confirm if vials are in vacuum like syringes? And last question mutual masturbation with vaginal secretions is no risk because nit enough secretions can be present in hand to transmit virus? And if saliva was mixed during masturbation this practicalky eliminates any viable hiv
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
52 months ago
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I am not sure what you mean by are the anesthetic vials “vacuum like syringes”. Syringes aspirate material by creating a vacuum when the plunger is pulled up. Pharmaceuticals such as anesthetics are typically packaged in sterile, sealed vials. The mechanics of the two are quite different.
Mutual masturbation is accepted by all experts as a no risk activity. This is the case even when partners transfer genital secretions to one another on their hands. During this process, If the person from whom the secretions come from happens to have HIV, the amount of HIV transferred on the hands is substantially less than in the secretions themselves. Furthermore any exposure to the air and environment During such activities makes HIV none transmissible.
Similarly, HIV infections are not transmitted through exposure to saliva.
My sense is that you were overthinking this and worrying needlessly. EWH
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52 months ago
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Dr. Hook,
What i meant about vials is if they are vacuum sealed once open since they only have small hole to put injection needle.
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
52 months ago
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I cannot comment on how dental anesthetic vials are sealed. Most typically however vials containing liquid medicines are sterile, and sealed in a neutral fashion so that there is neither a vacuum nor positive pressure in the vial.. Standard practice in withdrawing the contents is to inject an amount of air into the vial that is equal to the amount of liquid that you will remove. This results In creating positive pressure within the via which allows the correct amount of liquid desired to flow through the needle into the syringe. I hope that this explanation is helpful. EWH---
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52 months ago
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Thank you Dr. for your clarification on vials i will not worry more about my dentist visit. For my last question receiving oral sex is no risk and is less risky than performing oral sex which is very low risk?
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Edward W. Hook M.D.
52 months ago
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I’m glad my responses were helpful.
In response to your final question, you were correct-receiving oral sex is less risky than performing oral sex on another, HIV infected partner. There are no proven cases in which a person has acquired HIV from receipt of oral sex while there are a small number of cases in which persons performing oral sex on infected sex partners have acquired HIV. That said, performance of oral sex on an HIV Infected partner is a very low risk activity.
As you also point out, this will be my final response. This thread will be closed shortly without further responses. Take care. Please don’t worry. EWH.
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