Allergies can be deadly

A few months ago, a 15-year-old Canadian girl died after kissing her boyfriend who had just eaten peanut butter.  Her allergic reaction to peanuts was severe enough to be fatal.

How does this relate to dentistry?  Allergy to latex is becoming more and more common, and latex is everywhere around us.  It’s in the balloons we blow up at birthday parties, in the gloves that paramedics and police officers wear.  Parents have had severe allergic reactions when they walked into a room containing balloons at birthday parties!

That’s why we have made every effort to reduce latex exposure in our office.  We’ve had to find face masks with non-latex earloops.  Our gloves are nitrile, not latex.  I had to rig up my own straps to hold our nitrous oxide masks in place, since only latex straps were available commercially.

Latex allergy is becoming more common with every passing month;  the more you’re exposed to latex, the greater the chance you’ll develop an allergy to it.  Recent information showed that 26% of clinical dental personnel (dentists, hygienists, and chairside assistants) had itching hands after wearing latex gloves all day.  More than a few of my patients are latex-sensitive.

No environment can be completely latex-free;  pencil erasers have a latex base, as do rubber bands.  The letters that arrive in our office have latex residue on them from the rubber band the post office puts around the mail.  We’re just doing what we can to reduce everyone’s exposure to latex.