Dental HIV risk alleged

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

MORE THAN 80 per cent of British dentists do not adequately sterilise equipment between patients, risking a range of infections including HIV, the BBC's Panorama will claim tonight, writes Celia Hall.

The programme, which investigates the case of the Florida dentist who is said to have infected six of his patients with HIV, gives details of a survey of 69 dentists that found only 62 per cent had equipment capable of being put in an autoclave - a system of steam sterilisation recommended by the British Dental Association in preference to other methods.

Michael Watson, head of practitioner services at the BDA, said yesterday that there was a theoretical risk of transmission of HIV but it was five times less than the chances of being struck by lightning.