Thousands of dental patients in Sydney urged to undergo hepatitis, HIV testing over clinic hygiene breaches

Sydney : Up to 12,000 people have been urged to undergo testing for HIV and hepatitis after health officials confirmed four Sydney dental clinics are under investigation for poor hygiene practices.
It has been revealed that two senior dentists have been suspended and a further 12 are under investigation over a number of breaches involving poor cleaning and sterilisation techniques over a number of years.
New South Wales Health confirmed the four practices are located in the city, Surry Hills, Bondi Junction and Campsie in Sydney’s south-west.Two of them are the Gentle Dentist at Campsie and Sussex Street in the Sydney CBD, which were run by Samson Chan, and the other two were practices at Surry Hills and Bondi Junction run by Dr Robert Starkenburg.Both Dr Chan and Dr Starkenburg have been suspended from practising.
More than 40,000 patients attended the two Gentle Dentist practices over the past 10 years and officials said more than 11,000 people had invasive surgery which put them at risk of HIV and hepatitis.About 800 people from Dr Starkenburg’s practices are also believed to be at risk.