Many years ago, I was working in a downtown area as a dentist. This was a rougher part of town and some of the patients were a little bit rough as well. One day I was working on a patient with Hepatitis B. This is a very contagious disease that can be spread through the saliva or blood. The patient was honest with us about his medical history. We proceeded with all standard precautions.
I finished the emergency dental exam, completed my charting, and left the room. A few minutes later, one of my assistants came up to me with tears in her eyes. She said, “Dr. Erickson, did the patient in room two really have Hepatitis B?” I hesitated as I reviewed where we had been and what we had done. I said, “Yes, he did.” Her countenance and heart sunk even deeper. “What happened?” I said. She told me when she was cleaning the room that she had accidentally been stuck by the explorer on the dental tray. For a moment, my heart sunk for her.  She and I both knew this meant the possibility of contracting Hepatitis B, which in many ways has a life sentence similar to HIV. I thought for a moment remembering something significant and looked at her and said, “When I did the exam I never used the explorer.” I could see a dramatic shift in her face, and her eyes lit up again with joy and happiness. I saw hope return to her countenance in a dramatic fashion. She was thrilled with the news.