DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH
News Release (2007/0092) issued by The Government News Network on 19
April 2007
As a precautionary
measure the Chief Dental Officer, Dr Barry Cockcroft today issued
new guidance to all dentists in England regarding single use of
reamers and files, instruments used only in the root filling of teeth.
The guidance to dentists follows on from precautionary advice
from the Spongiform Encephalopathy Advisory Committee to the
Department of Health and early results from ongoing research
conducted by the Health Protection Agency, indicating a potential
risk of vCJD associated with endodontic procedures.
Dr Barry Cockcroft said:
"There are no reported definite or suspected cases of vCJD
transmission arising from dental procedures - this new guidance to
dentists is purely an extra precaution. The public should
continue to attend their dentist as normal."
Notes to Editors:
1. The guidance applies to all primary and secondary care
dentists in England.
2. Endodontics relate to treatment to the dental pulp of a tooth.
A major part of this is root canal work. No other aspect of dental
work is affected by this precautionary advice.
3. There are approximately 1 million NHS endodontic treatments
every year in England and Wales. Since 1996 there have been 165
cases of vCJD. There is no current evidence of vCJD being
transmitted by any form of dentistry.
4. Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) is one of the
Transmissible Spongiform Encephalopathies, the group of prion
diseases that include Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE),
Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), and scrapie.
5. This letter reflects precautionary advice from the Spongiform
Encephalopathy Advisory Committee (SEAC) and early results on the
potential infectivity of dental tissues from research in progress
by the Health Protection Agency. This research supports the view
that dental instruments (files and reamers) used in root canal
treatment could possibly pose an effective route of vCJD transmission.
6. Almost everyone is at some risk of being infected with vCJD
due to dietary exposure to BSE. Any additional risk from a root
canal treatment could only arise if the instruments had been
previously used on an infective patient. The proportion of people
carrying infection is highly uncertain. Published information
suggests that this may be between 1 in 1,400 and 1 in 20,000
people, though it may well be less for some age groups. It is also
not clear how many of those carrying the infection are likely to
develop symptoms of vCJD: given the much smaller number of cases
actually seen so far, the majority may never do so (Clarke and
Ghani, 2005). Even if instruments had been used on someone
carrying the infection, it is not clear how great the risk of vCJD
being passed on would be. Nevertheless, a precautionary approach
is justified in view of the number of endodontic procedures
carried out.
[ENDS]