Health authorities are warning anyone who may have been treated by an illegally practising Burnaby dentist to get tested for hepatitis and HIV.
The warning came Wednesday morning at a press conference announcing that the College of Dental Surgeons of B.C. had seized a "significant amount" of dental equipment from a man who appears to have been practising dentistry illegally from a home on Southwood Street.
The college was alerted to the problem after a woman who said she was a patient of Tung Sheng Wu, also known as David Wu, complained about the treatment she had received.
Jerome Marburg, registrar and CEO of the College of Dental Surgeons of B.C., told the NOW the information from that patient led the college to hire private investigators to look into Wu.
The information from the investigators allowed the college to get a court order to enter the home to collect evidence.
College investigators and police searched the home on May 29 and found a dental office in a bedroom, along with about 1,500 client files.
Marburg said those files aren't patient charts in the accepted sense but more a financial record.
The college says Wu appears to have relied on word-of-mouth referrals, particularly in the Chinese-Canadian community.
"This wasn't some guy setting up a practice to help people who couldn't afford it," Marburg said. "This was a guy who was preying on people who could."
Marburg said it is not known whether Wu has any dental training.
This was not Wu's first encounter with the college.
It is believed he may have been practising illegally as far back as the 1990s, working out of Port Moody first before reappearing in Burnaby. Ten years ago, he was ordered to stop practising. At the time, Marburg said, the injunction to stop Wu came with Wu's own consent - through his lawyer, Wu expressed remorse and said he would be leaving the country.
After that, Wu was off the college's radar.
"There's only so much we can do," Marburg said. "We don't have broad policing powers."
After the new patient complaint arose this spring, Marburg noted, the college took immediate action - launching the investigation and applying for another court order to stop Wu from practising dentistry.
The matter is set for a court date on Monday, Aug. 12.
The college is currently working with Fraser Health in an effort to track down as many of Wu's clients as possible.
Dr. Michelle Murti, medical health officer for Fraser Health, urged all patients of Wu's to get tested for hepatitis B and C, as well as HIV.
"Because Mr. Wu was not a licensed dentist and because he was not following the infection control procedures expected of a licensed dentist, we believe there is sufficient risk of exposure to bloodborne viruses to recommend testing for all clients," she said.
Marburg stressed that blood testing is available for free for everyone, even those who may not have a B.C. Care Card.
He also said that all clients of Wu's should ensure they go to a proper, real dentist to get checked and to check whether any work that has been done is safe. Anyone who received treatment from Wu is asked to call a public health nurse through Fraser Health's toll-free line at 1-855-895-7425.
Marburg said cases such as this are relatively uncommon but Wu is not the only person to run an illegal dentistry practice.
"There's no doubt there are more out there," he said.
He noted it's easy for patients to check on the legitimacy of a dental practitioner by visiting the College of Dental Surgeons website at www.cdsbc.org - follow the Directory of Dentists link on the front page.
"The ones who aren't licensed, who knows what risks people are taking?" Marburg said.
At the same time, Marburg stressed that patients of two legitimate practising dentists in B.C. with similar names do not need to be worried.
A retired dentist named David Wu, and a currently practising dentist named Tung-Yi Wu, with offices on Cambie Street, are not in any way connected to this case.
"Patients of those individuals do not need to concern themselves," Marburg said.
