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Worried about blood-borne STDs during dental visits

Dear Doctor, I am a Chinese,so maybe my English is poor,I am so worried. I took my child to the dentist's office to see his teeth yesterday.The Doctors'gloves and medical devices are disposable. But I see some red stuff in the dental equipment. Doctor need to touch this device when they adjust the angle of light that illuminates my child's teeth. So the doctor must touch the red stuff.I am so worried the red stuff is blood. Maybe this blood is stained when the last patient sees the tooth.The doctor touched the red stuff(blood),and then touched my child's mouth.Is my child at risk of STD? I am so worried.Please help me.
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207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
The bacteria may be found in the blood, but that's not how it's transmitted.

How do people get syphilis?

"Syphilis is transmitted from person to person by direct contact with a syphilitic sore, known as a chancre. Chancres can occur on or around the external genitals, in the vagina, around the anus , or in the rectum, or in or around the mouth. Transmission of syphilis can occur during vaginal, anal, or oral sex. In addition, pregnant women with syphilis can transmit the infection to their unborn child."

https://www.cdc.gov/std/syphilis/stdfact-syphilis-detailed.htm

It sounds like maybe you have obsessive compulsive disorder? This amount of fear over this is not rational.
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Avatar universal
Yes it can be transmitted, but the chances are really low.
And why are you assuming the red thing is blood?
Why are you assuming the person has syphilis?
If you are worried, get a test, really simple. Syphilis is treatable.
Anyways, good luck and all the best.
Helpful - 0
207091 tn?1337709493
COMMUNITY LEADER
I'm not familiar with Chinese dentistry practices, but I'd be very surprised if what you saw was blood. Did you ask about it or point it out to the dentist?

Even if it was blood, you don't need to worry about this. Once exposed to air, blood-borne germs (HIV, Hepatitis B and C) die quickly, and are unable to infect someone. Even if it was fresh blood, it doesn't sound like there was enough to have enough virus to infect your child.

You should let the dentist's office know, though, so in case it is blood, they can clean it and take proper precautions so it doesn't happen again.

Your child is at no risk.
Helpful - 0
4 Comments
Thank you very much.May I ask if my child is at risk of syphilis?
Oh, I'm sorry, I should have mentioned that. Syphilis is not blood borne, and requires direct skin-to-skin contact to transmit, like mouth to genital or genital to genital contact. It gets confusing because the test for syphilis is a blood test, but syphilis isn't transmitted by blood.

I hope that helps. :)
Thank you very much :)
I am sorry to disturb you again.I look up information on the Internet and syphilis is also transmitted through blood,There are a lot of Treponema pallidum in their blood. I am worried about this.
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