OrilliaMatters received this letter from Dr. John Hardie, in defence of Orillia dentist Dr. Joe Philip:
As a retired Chief of Dentistry at two of Canada’s major teaching hospitals, I have a keen awareness of the importance of infection control to the practice of dentistry. It is a relationship that I have pursued in lectures and publications for over 30 years, and was the reason why Dr. Joe Philip shared with me his concerns regarding inspections of his practice by the Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit.
It is important for all concerned, especially Dr. Philip’s patients, to appreciate that there are no studies linking disease transmission to dirty dental instruments. In their common usage dental instruments are contaminated by the same microorganisms as are knives, forks, spoons, cups and plates. Daily activities such as eating, talking and kissing are only possible because these organisms have a low potential for spreading disease.
The District Health Unit inspection was performed with the knowledge that no transmissible infection had been reported from Dr. Philip’s office. In addition, the District Health Unit and Public Health Ontario have been unwilling or unable to provide myself and Dr. Philip with concrete evidence that actions in his practice are related to the transmission of HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. Without such evidence, there is no justification in requesting that Dr. Philip’s patients be tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. In fact, because many of the patients will be in a low risk category for those infections, there is a very real risk that some of them will receive a false positive test result-one that carries devastating emotional and physical consequences.
The Simcoe-Muskoka District Health Unit admits that low level disinfectants similar to the ones used by Dr. Philip will kill HIV and the hepatitis B and C viruses even before they were subjected to the approved sterilization techniques performed by Dr. Philip and his staff. Based on this fact and the above comments, the District Health Unit had no credible reasons for implying that Dr. Philip’s practice was a source of disease transmission. To restore confidence in its future actions, the Simcoe- Muskoka District Health Unit should publicly apologize to Dr. Philip, his staff and patients for causing them unnecessary distress and worry.
Sincerely,
John Hardie, BDS, MSc (Path), PhD, FRCDC
Kanata, ON
