Contracted during dental appointment

[redferrari]

I had a dental appointment for a filling and I have since been unwell and have tested positive. I was assured that all procedures are followed.

I emailed the dentist and she says she was told to isolate day after I met her but not on the day of appointment. I wonder if she should have informed me as she could have been an asymptomatic carrier. Isn't it her duty to inform those she came in contact with if she has been told to isolate? She has tested negative but I tested positive and she is not informing anyone nor is she using the test and trace app. Is this right according for rules? I have since installed the app and filled up all the tracing information.

I emailed her to let her know as 3 days after the appointment I caught COVID and she says no one in clinic has caught it although they had to isolate and test. Does this mean that if someone tests negative they don't need to inform even if they had to isolate? Especially in a setting like dentist where you have to take off your masks?

Are you 100% that you caught this at the dentist?

The dentist was right - she was a close contact of someone else and therefore had to isolate but her close contacts don't have to isolate as she didn't test positive. Can you imagine how many people would have to isolate if the positive person, their close contacts and the contacts' close contacts had to isolate every time? It'd be crazy.

The lesson to take from this is that pretending you can protect yourself entirely from a highly contagious virus is nuts. You got it, as did many millions of others who were being careful and following 'the rules.' Hopefully you'll be fine.

Close contacts of confirmed cases have to self isolate but their contacts do not.

She can’t use the test and trace or inform you of anything if she’s tested negative. There’s nothing for her to tell, she hasn’t got it.

What makes you so sure you got it at the dentist?

She's tested negative so there's nothing to tell you. People who are asked to isolate don't have to inform anyone, no.
Not sure what you mean by her not using the app. You mean in her business? She has a record of who has entered the practice and for how long presumably? If so, that's sufficient. The app is just one way businesses can do this.
She may have to isolate after her contact with you, depending on the time frame. How long after your appointment did you begin to gave symptoms?

If she didn’t tested negative, perhaps she wasn’t the one who passed it on to you? It may have been a coincidence that she was due to isolate

Of course she doesn't tell you if she needs to isolate as you would have be a contact of a contact.

As she tested negative*

We aren’t allowed the app at work

And as we wear ppe are not considered contacts - and as such are not obliged to tell patients.

we are not advised to tell patients our private medical history either

Tbh. You could catch it from anywhere

Thanks all, I only ever went to dentist and haven't been anywhere. I work from home and get all shopping done online

Do you live alone, OP?

She tested negative - sounds within the rules to me.

No but no one at home has stepped out (wfh and schools closed early). We had food delivered. Appointment on Tuesday and I was ill from Saturday. So only place I caught it is at dentist.

I highly suspect that her negative is a false negative, assuming you have not been anywhere at all AND you are sanitising all your online shop. Your food picker/handler at the shop might be positive and spread the virus on your shopping.

Well there’s no need to blame others once Covid positive you can never be sure where you caught it

Thanks all, I am not really looking to blame anyone but I wonder how does tracing actually work. It sounds like there is not way to prevent spreading. The dentist may well have been an asymptomatic carrier but obviously may have not had any idea and could have passed it to others. I have been asked to fill info in Trace website and I did mention my appointment but now wondering it really can't be of any use to anyone.

How could the dentist have been an asymptomatic carrier if she tested positive? If she was an asymptomatic carrier that just means someone has it with no symptoms.

*if she tested negative, sorry

@DumplingsAndStew thanks! Yes sorry I am not thinking clearly, just understand however careful you are no one is safe!

Of course there is no way to prevent spreading. The test trace and isolate system has spreading built in.

If she was asymptomatic she would have tested positive as she would have the virus with no symptoms.

As a dentist, we have had to put in secure measures. This includes mask wearing in communal areas between appointments, wiping down of all contact surfaces with anti viral wipes intermittently throughout the day and after appointments, allow fallow time for droplets to settle, disinfecting floors and units after appointments, enhanced PPE including disposable gowns, single use visors, head covers and gloves and FFP3 masks that have been fit tested specifically. We've had to present risk assessments to our health boards, and have installed increased ventilation systems at a great cost.
Most practices are even staggering breaks to enhance social
Distancing, separating patients in waiting areas, or not letting patients into the building until they are called, and working in staff bubbles so all taken very seriously.
So far to my knowledge, and via reports I have seen, there have been no reported covid cases in the UK or Ireland in the last year as a result of transmission from a dental patient to a staff member or vice versa, but there have been a handful of cases staff to staff contact ( sitting too close to each other at lunch etc).
My point being that with all the extra measures, a dental practice is an extremely safe environment. All possible cases are reported to their local health board or occupational health team ( varies by locality) and will be followed up. If a staff member is in contact with a positive case and not wearing PPE they have to self isolate, as per UK guidelines.
In short, I think it's likely you contracted covid from another source. Especially likely if the dentist has tested negative.

Yes I totally misunderstood asymptomatic carrier as someone who tests negative but can pass it on.

She has been told to isolate because she has been in contact with a case, she doesn't have to inform anyone. Even people who live with her don't have to isolate.

If she was the one who had tested positive, then yes, she would have to give details of people she was in contact with 48 hours before.