HIV test urged for 7K patients of Oklahoma oral surgeon

Associated Press

TULSA, Okla.

Health officials on Thursday urged an Oklahoma oral surgeon’s patients to undergo hepatitis and HIV testing, saying filthy conditions behind his office’s spiffy facade posed a threat to his 7,000 clients and made him a “menace to the public health.”

State and county health inspectors went to Dr. W. Scott Harrington’s practice after a patient with no known risk factors tested positive for both hepatitis C and the virus that causes AIDS. They found employees using dirty equipment, reusing needles and administering drugs without a license.

Harrington voluntarily gave up his license and closed his offices in Tulsa and suburban Owasso and is cooperating with investigators, said Kaitlin Snider, a spokeswoman for the Tulsa Health Department. He faces a hearing April 19 where his license could be revoked permanently.

“This is an unprecedented event,” Susan Rogers, executive director of the state Board of Dentistry, said in an interview. “To my knowledge, this has never happened before as far as a public notification of a [hepatitis C] case involving a dental office.”

The Oklahoma Board of Dentistry said the inspectors discovered multiple sterilization issues at Harrington’s offices, including the use of a separate, rusty, set of instruments for patients who were known to carry infectious diseases.