Authorities have confirmed the outbreak started in the Children’s Dental Group located in the East Lincon Avenue in Anaheim around May third, and since then over 500 kids have been exposed to it. Although the agency has confirmed one M. abscessus infection, the other cases remain under investigation. Without intraveneous antibiotic treatment, the infection can spread rapidly to other parts of the body and threaten the affected person’s life. It can take up to 6 months for the children to develop the abscesses.
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A pulpotomy, sometimes called a baby tooth root canal, is usually done to treat a cavity in a baby molar. In one case, a 3-year-old boy had to undergo an operation to remove an abscess that was only detected after his teacher noticed his face was swollen.
Authorities and health officials are categorizing the situation as “very unusual”, since it’s not a common infection to appear. “As to why, we’re still investigating that”, said Dr. Eric Handler, Orange County’s health officer.
“Yes, you take your child to a dentist thinking everything’s going to go well, you’re going to go in and come out, but it didn’t happen like that”. The facility stopped performing the procedures September 6.
According to the agency, the children were patients at Children’s Dental Group of Anaheim, between May 3 and August 2, where they received pulpotomy treatments, commonly referred to as “baby root canals”.
Health officials have ordered an Anaheim dental clinic to stop using water for procedures after 10 children who underwent root canals were hospitalized with serious infections.
It’s enough to make you rethink your own dentist.
The California Department of Public Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the Dental Board of California are working with the healthcare agency and are still seeking the source of the infections.
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“We are doing everything”, Children’s Dental Group CEO Samuel Gruenbaum said in a statement to the press, “whether its sterilization or anything else that relates to taking care of the patients”.
