In 1991, dentists across America discovered that OSHA had ‘outlawed the tooth fairy.’ In a fit of regulatory zeal to combat the spread of AIDS and other communicable diseases through blood-borne pathogens, the rule-writers at OSHA had determined to make it a violation to allow any item that had been in contact with bodily fluids to leave a medical facility except in a biohazards container.
[Our products are] are safe when used as instructed….Generally, the people who are using our products . . . are really the expert in what the appropriate method is to handle these hypodermic needles and patients and that sort of thing.
[The proposed bloodborne pathogen standards are] too expensive, a waste of resources and overkill.
Although I know this will result in delays in obtaining results and will inconvenience patients, I simply cannot afford the additional costs necessary to meet all the proficiency testing and supervisory fees necessitated by this 'improvement' in health care.
It's definitely driving doctors to find other jobs. Doctors feel they aren't being allowed to practice medicine because they are so overwhelmed with administrative aspects.
Some of those things are well founded. Some are just crazy….[you have to] dress up like Darth Vader whenever you see a patient.
They told us in a seminar that OSHA needs money. Where do you think OSHA is going to get money? From fines.
Most importantly, these regulations will bring about changes in the dentist-patient relationship and make it more difficult to practice dentistry….Patients need a warm and trusting relationship with their dentist to help overcome their fears and make necessary dentistry possible. It will be more difficult to establish this relationship when the dentist is gowned, shielded and masked. While being suitable for controlling infection, these techniques may create a different barrier - one that will have a profound effect on the relationship between the dentist and patient.
These changes will generate expenses that will ultimately be passed on to patients.
If you lose your tooth at home, you can leave it under your pillow for the tooth fairy. If the dentist removes it, the tooth fairy will have to consult the Government for its exact site.
