“A guy almost has to get shot in the mouth to get in there in the first place,” Vernovage said.
Guy Richardson, the Dayton VA’s director, acknowledged the dental clinic has been working through a backlog of patients since it closed for three weeks during late summer 2010 to address infection control issues.
The VA said Tuesday it will offer testing to more than 500 veterans to ensure they did not contract Hepatitis B, Hepatitis C or HIV. Those veterans had been seen between 1992 and July 2008 by a dentist who did not change his Latex gloves or sterilize tools between patients.
There has been subsequent turnover of the dental clinic’s staff, with both a full-time clinician and part-time clinician retiring since late summer, Richardson said.
The dentist who was the focal point of the VA’s recent investigation into infection control practices remains on the VA’s payroll, but has not seen patients since July 28.
The dental clinic saw 3,142 veterans and had 11,400 visits during federal fiscal year 2010 (Oct. 1, 2009 - Sept. 30, 2010).
The Dayton VA will face no financial penalties, but has implemented a “dental infection control dashboard” to heighten infection control surveillance and randomly review its clinicians’ competencies and credentials, Richardson said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-7457 or bsutherly @DaytonDailyNews.com.
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