Risk of mad cow disease to dental patients investigated
Health protection experts have said they are investigating whether the human form of mad cow disease can be passed on through dental procedures.
The risk to dental patients is thought to be very small
Government scientists will use mice to discover whether they can catch variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (vCJD) from contaminated dental instruments.
They will also see whether mice who have been purposely infected with BSE - as if they had eaten contaminated meat - show signs of the disease in the tissue in their mouths.
The three-year experiment, which has just started, was outlined at the Health Protection Agency's (HPA) annual conference at the University of Warwick today.
The aim is to give the Department of Health more guidance on the risks posed by vCJD in dentistry and to determine whether stricter advice on the best cleaning methods needs to be issued.
At the moment experts believe the risk is very small, but want to carry out controlled tests to confirm this.
Millions of people in the UK were potentially exposed to BSE from contaminated beef in the 1980s.
Since then it has also emerged that donated blood and tissue may also cause vCJD to spread. It is believed that at least two people have been infected after having a blood transfusion in the UK.
The Government has since taken measures to protect the blood supply by banning donations from certain groups, including those who have had blood transfusions since 1980.
There have also been concerns about whether the prions that carry vCJD can be spread by surgical instruments, especially when used during brain surgery.
Joanne Dickinson, who is one of those carrying out the research, said: "This is really an information gathering exercise.
"The Department of Health will have the information to decide what the level of risk is and what measures need to be put in place."
An estimated 75 million dental procedures are conducted in the UK each year and that two million of these are invasive root canal treatments.
The study will involved around 30 dental practices in the South West of England.
