State Health Officials Warn Dentist Reused Syringes, Needles
DENVER (CBS4) - The state health department is warning patients of Dr. Stephen Stein they need to get tested for HIV and hepatitis after it says the dentist reused syringes and needles from one patient to another.
Stein is a licensed dentist who practiced oral surgery in Highlands Ranch and Denver. Patients who saw Stein from September 1999 through June 2011 may have been exposed to HIV, hepatitis B and/or hepatitis C if they received IV medicines including sedation while under his care.
From September 1999 to June 2011 he practiced at Stein Oral and Facial Surgery at 8671 S. Quebec in Highlands Ranch.
From August 2010 until June 2011 he practiced at Stein Oral and Facial Surgery at 3737 E. 31st in Denver. Stein also saw patients at the office under the clinic name of New Image Dental Implant Center.
The department began investigating Stein after a report of unsafe injection practices. It said it found syringes and needles were saved and used to inject medications from one patient to another.
That can spread disease, although no specific infections have yet been linked to the offices.
The health department is working to obtain all of Stein's patient records so those people can be notified directly but those records may be incomplete.
The department recommends anyone who was a patient of Stein's and received IV medicines to see their doctors to be tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C. If patients do not know if they received IV medicines, the department recommends they also be tested.
Steins agreed to stop practicing on June 24, 2011. He sold his practice in Highlands Ranch in September 2011 and the practice of reusing needles and syringes stopped.
The state is working with the Tri-County Health Department and Denver Public Health as the investigation continues.
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