Being a Dentist Can Be Dangerous – Diseases – Part 1

This is where infection control is vital in dentistry!

Now what are the diseases we have to deal with.

The table below is a sample of what organisms dentists face each day.

Unfortunately, over the years, this list is getting longer. Always new entrants or more nastier variants of current ones. You see, microorganisms have this need to survive at whatever the cost.

They don’t care about your political position, your research, perceptions or views. They will at all costs (usually the human) do what it needs to take to survive, multiply, and even mutate any way they can. This what we have to deal with on a daily basis.

There is such a variety these include bacteria and fungi, viruses, parasites, and even prions.

Let’s start a timeline of my experiences with the dangers of the microscopic world.

• Virus
  • The 1918–1920 flu pandemic, also known as the Great Influenza epidemic or Spanish flu, was an exceptionally deadly global issue.
  • No, I wasn’t around then, but if anyone says “it’s just the ‘flu”; this was the last pandemic and 50 million people died worldwide.
  • This was caused by the H1N1 influenza A virus.
  • One fifth of the world’s population was attacked by this deadly virus. Within months, it had killed more people than any other illness in recorded history.

• Bacteria
  • When I was a dental student, there was the possibility of being exposed to Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the “white death”, or consumption. It is an infectious disease usually caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MTB) bacteria. You see, in anatomy classes we dissected cadavers. These bacteria have a protective cell wall that allows it to survive in a dormant state waiting for conditions to “come alive”. Thankfully we were vaccinated against it.
• Virus
  • While still a student – HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, had become one of the world’s most serious health and development challenges since the first cases were reported in 1981. Approximately 86 million people have become infected with HIV since the start of the epidemic.
• Parasites
  • Gardai and Cryptosporidium
    The 1998 Sydney water crisis involved the suspected contamination of the water supply system of Sydney by the microscopic pathogens Cryptosporidium and Giardia between July and September 1998.
    Following routine water sampling and testing, over a series of weeks low level contaminants were found in many suburbs and in water treatment facilities including Warragamba. Precautionary “boil water” alerts were raised covering several suburban areas for the period of the crisis.

Yes, there’s more – It’s a wonder that the human species has lasted as long as it has, let alone dentists!