Dental body seeks injunction to block unsanitary practice
The Alberta Dental Association and College is seeking a court injunction to ensure an illegal and highly unsanitary dental practice doesn’t continue to operate out of a home in southwest Calgary, even after Alberta Health Services issued its own closure order this week.
AHS investigators, who worked in conjunction with the college, have released details of the closure report, which show alarmingly unsanitary conditions in the basement office located at a Somerset residence, including no hand-washing basins, no dedicated sinks for equipment decontamination and a cat-litter box in the area housing the air compressor and vacuum units.
“Our biggest priority is to ensure the public is no longer at risk,” said Dr. Randall Croutze, CEO of the dental college.
“And if the person at this location were to continue to practice, she would be in contempt of a court order and face serious legal ramifications.”
Croutze pointed to a similar case in northern Alberta last year in which a mother and son were running an illegal dental practice in the small community of La Crete, just north of Peace River. Even after AHS ordered a closure and an injunction was put in place by the courts, both continued to practice, Croutze said. Because they were found in contempt of the injunction, they were subsequently sentenced to jail time.
This week, AHS ordered the closure of the illegal, unlicensed practice at 20 Somervale Close S.W., asking anyone who received services there, or from Natalia Prokhin, of the same address, be tested for several serious bloodborne viruses, including hepatitis B and C, and HIV.
Dr. Judy MacDonald, medical officer of health for the AHS Calgary zone, said the operation did not have proper sterilization services or sanitation processes in place.
Croutze agrees it’s especially important to the public’s safety that the southwest Calgary location cease operating, particularly since the investigation showed such significant breaches of cleanliness.
According to the report, the premises had the potential of becoming “injurious and dangerous to the public health” due to a number of unsanitary conditions including:
No dedicated hand-washing basin within the service provision area;
No dedicated sink for equipment decontamination, indicating reusable equipment and devices were not being properly cleaned;
No puncture-resistant container for the disposal of sharp instruments;
No high-level disinfectant for medical devices and no surface disinfectant for clinical contact surfaces;
No sterilizer or other equipment readily available to sterilize critical instruments;
Expired medications and expired pre-sterilized needles were stored, indicating they could be used on clients;
Opened single-use disposable needles were not discarded after use and stored with other singleuse disposable devices;
Dental instruments used for fillings, extractions, oral cavity assessments and other procedures were being wiped only with premoistened cloths;
The area housing the air compressor and vacuum connected to the dental chair was located next to a cat-litter box.
Croutze said as a result of the unsafe conditions, patients were not only possibly exposed to bloodborne viruses such as hepatitis B and C, and HIV, but they could also be at risk of a number of serious bacterial infections, including group A streptococcal infections that can lead to serious illness if left untreated.
While he could not speculate why anyone would seek the services of Prokhin, Croutze did say investigators believed she was a recent immigrant from Russia who was educated in dentistry in that country but unlicensed to practice in Canada. For more information about how to get tested for potential blood-borne viruses or bacterial infections connected to the southwest Calgary practice, the public is asked to call HealthLink at 811.