Chance of disease transmission

[DOL8873]

Hello, I’m a dental student and today my finger was stabbed by a bur

Situation:
Restoring a Class V missing restoration. No decay present. Prepped retention grooves in enamel only with #1/4 or #1/2 (very tiny) round bur with water. I placed the handpiece back in its holder and proceeded to adjust the water of the handpiece, in doing so I struck the round bur with my finger, puncturing through my glove and skin. Pt is low risk and answered NO to HIV, Hep A,B,C.

Now that I’m home and thinking about the situation I’m starting to stress. I know having the pts blood drawn will eliminate my stress, if negative. But I’m also not sure if the pt will agree to having it done. Also, if the pt does agree it could be a week or 2 before they can be tested.

I feel the chance of transmission is pretty low in this case. But of course I’m still worried. What do you think??

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[Vicviper]

Super low chances, happens to dentists all the time. There's really only two we're concerned about, HepC and HIV, and now there's a cure for most forms of HepC. Transmission rate of HepC is like 0.05% with a blood droplet. Even if they are HIV positive with a high viral load (most HIV patients that are undergoing standard treatment have a near ZERO viral load) the transmission rate for a needle stick is something like 0.01%. If you told me you got blood spatter in your eyes, I'd be more concerned, but even if there was blood on the bur I wouldn't be too concerned. Did you follow you schools sharps protocol? That's the most important thing at this point.

Your first sharps incident you'll always feel like crap and stress about it, but don't worry, it happens to everybody, and it won't be the last one you get. If it'll make you feel better, ask for the blood draw, but you need to continue with your sharps protocol of testing for YOU.

 

[PreDentTechySon]

Your school should have a blood testing service they can provide to you at no cost (to you that is). It sounds like a low risk exposure to me, but probably best to get tested just to be safe.

 

[Str82th]

Low risk. Follow your schools protocol.

 

[FanOfCostco]

Wait why didn't you report this when it happened?

 

[theleatherwalle]

Follow protocols and stop worrying. There is nothing you can do at this point besides get tested. You'll just worry yourself to death with what ifs other wise. Talk to your lab director and sort it out. In the future, report these things immediately.

 

[DOL8873]

This incident was reported to faculty when it occurred. I am following up with a blood draw. Thank you all for your responses!

 

[FanOfCostco]

This incident was reported to faculty when it occurred. I am following up with a blood draw. Thank you all for your responses!

Correctly me if I'm wrong, but isn't the blood draw suppose to be when it happened? And you bring the patient with you

 

[Michael_Scott]

yea you should always ask your supervising faculty, usually this is low chance but without being there, no one on here can really tell you much

 

[allantois]

Correctly me if I'm wrong, but isn't the blood draw suppose to be when it happened? And you bring the patient with you

HIV antibodies take 4 weeks to develop in 95% of cases. If testing for antigen, it would still take 14 days. You also cannot just subject a patient for this testing. If occupational exposure is a significant concern, then PEP is advised. Same day blood draw would provide no info at least concerning HIV.

However, I probably wouldn’t worry about it as if even the person had HIV and is unaware of it and therefore has a high viral load, their chance of transmitting it through a needle stick is less than 1%.