DENVER—State health officials said Friday it was too early to tell if anyone has been infected after a Colorado dentist allegedly reused syringes and needles to administer drugs to patients for more than a decade.
No specific infections have been linked to the offices of dentist Stephen Stein, said Dr. Chris Urbina, executive director of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment.
The dentist operated Stein Oral and Facial Surgery from September 1999 until June 2011, first in Highlands Ranch, a subdivision south of Denver, then in Denver. Stein’s attorney, Victoria Lovato, said Friday her client is cooperating with state officials, but she declined to comment further.
Letters were mailed Thursday to at least 8,000 patients advising them to be tested for HIV, hepatitis B and hepatitis C if they received intravenous drugs under Stein’s care. It remained unclear how many received injections.
Former patient Shannon Stamey told KMGH-TV ( ) in Denver that she saw Stein for a dental implant in 2008 and found out about the allegations through a posting on Facebook. She has tested negative for HIV and hepatitis.
“I immediately, actually, began shaking,” she said, explaining she was angry. “I don’t really understand how someone could do that or why you would do that, and why no one would speak up for 12 years.”
Stein is not currently practicing and entered an interim cessation of practice agreement with the state Board of Dental Examiners in June 2011.
