Needle Sticks?

Started by WHO DAT
This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
Get help with your application

Use all the free resources available to you from SDN: articles, guides, expert advising, forums discussions, and school research.

WHO DAT

Full Member
10+ Year Member
15+ Year Member
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I'm curious to know how common of a problem needle sticks are dentistry. As students/practicing dentists, do you ever find yourself tense or catch yourself not being as careful as you should? 😱
 
The dentist I shadow has been practicing about 13 yrs. This past year an assitant got stuck. It was the 1st he's had in his office.
Scott
 
Advertisement - Members don't see this ad
I was stuck twice in school. I was assisting someone in oral surgery and as they were suturing he did not look as I was holding the cheek back and stuck me. Second time I was doing infiltrations on a patients anterior teeth and I stuck myself. Pretty scary. I almost passed out each time from the stress. I know you cant tell if a patient has hiv or anything by looking at them but they both looked like they had something. I had to go to the school hospital each time with both patients and we all got an hiv test along with hepititis tests. Both test came out negative so I am in the clear. The chance of getting hiv from a needle stick is 0.03%. The stressful part was having to take antiretrovirals for about four days until the results came back. Needless to say I am overly cautious now when dealing with injections.
 
I was stuck twice in school. I was assisting someone in oral surgery and as they were suturing he did not look as I was holding the cheek back and stuck me. Second time I was doing infiltrations on a patients anterior teeth and I stuck myself. Pretty scary. I almost passed out each time from the stress. I know you cant tell if a patient has hiv or anything by looking at them but they both looked like they had something. I had to go to the school hospital each time with both patients and we all got an hiv test along with hepititis tests. Both test came out negative so I am in the clear. The chance of getting hiv from a needle stick is 0.03%. The stressful part was having to take antiretrovirals for about four days until the results came back. Needless to say I am overly cautious now when dealing with injections.

im a student right now. stuck myself once, but thank god it was before injrecting the pt. Just take or time each time and you should be fine. I was sorta in a rush that day, and thats when the sh1t can hit the fan
 
Thanks for your comments. That was something I wondered about mostly because the mouth is already a pretty confined area to work in and it seems like things can get worse when/if you have a pt. who jerks or moves in the chair. But like y'all said, I'm sure proper technique and being cautious go along way in preventing that sort of thing.