Colorado: Thousands at HIV risk from dentist's reused syringes, needles

http://usnews.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/07/14/12738017-colorado-thousands-at-hiv-risk-from-dentists-reused-syringes-needles?lite

July 14, 2012

DENVER -- A suspended Colorado dentist reused syringes and needles in his now-shuttered practice, potentially exposing thousands of patients to HIV and hepatitis infection, health officials warned on Friday.

The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment sent letters to 8,000 patients of dentist Stephen Stein, urging them to seek tests for the diseases after learning of "unsafe injection practices" at two Denver-area clinics he owned between September 1999 and June 2011.

Investigators found that Stein reused needles and syringes in several patients' intravenous lines at his oral surgery and dental implant clinics, in violation of standard medical protocol, the department said in a statement.