BENSON – The day Samuel Vaughan went to the dentist and had four teeth extracted, he fully expected to leave the doctor’s office with his molars in hand. Not only did the 18-year-old Vaughan leave with four less teeth in his mouth, he also left empty-handed. The dentist, Dr.
Ryan Barney, informed the teenager that the bloody teeth were considered a hazardous material and he could not take them. Vaughan, of Whetstone, and his mother argued that the blood was his own and that he would promptly secure his teeth and take them home. But Barney wouldn’t bite and the teeth were placed in a Sharps container along with bloodied gauze and disposed of, the dentist said.
“We don't give out our adult teeth to anyone,” Barney said in a phone interview this week. “The blood on them can carry bloodborne diseases.” Barney, who has been a dentist since 1999, said he first learned that in dental school.
And while it’s not illegal to give a patient his or her extracted teeth, it’s not a common practice either. “What if he had touched a door knob, or if someone else had touched the teeth and the blood?” Barney asked. There are no federal laws or regulations that prohibit or discourage dentists from giving patients their extracted teeth, published reports show.
However, it is frowned upon. According to OSHA's Bloodborne Pathogen Standard, extracted teeth are considered potentially infectious materials and should be handled accordingly. This comes from the uncertainty that a d.
