Can Jakobov's disease be spread through dental procedures?

Greetings to all the members, I am a newcomer from Mexico 🙂

I have a brief question that has been weighing on my mind for several days now.

A friend of mine who is studying medicine mentioned there might be a possibility that Jakobov disease—often referred to here as the human variant of Mad Cow Disease—could be transmitted through dental procedures. Since there have been a few suspected cases of this illness in my region, along with one confirmed case, I find myself wondering if there is any real risk of infection for me personally... specifically, if my dentist were to use instruments previously used on an infected patient while they were still in the incubation period.

Peter Flores said:Hey everyone, just a newcomer from Mexico here!🙂

I've got a quick question that's been messing with my head for a few days now.

A buddy of mine in med school mentioned there might be a chance that Jakobov disease (what we usually call "variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease") could spread through dental work. Since there have been a couple of suspected cases—and one confirmed one—in my neck of the woods, I'm wondering: is there any real risk of me catching this if my dentist used tools on one of those people while they were still in the incubation phase?

That's impossible because that disease isn't contagious! You'd have to eat a mad cow to get sick—you can't catch it from person to person.

First off, you have to understand that CJD—or bovine spongiform encephalopathy—is caused by prions, not viruses. Prions are simpler than viruses and sit right on that line between living and non-living matter, which makes them incredibly hard to kill. Your standard sterilization methods don't touch prions; you basically need temperatures north of 1800 degrees Fahrenheit to wipe them out, and obviously, we aren't doing that in a dental office. So, in theory, transmission is possible. What’s certain, though, is that an instrument would first have to come into direct contact with an infected person's blood, and the infectious dose required to trigger it in a human is tiny.
Are you actually going to catch it? Look... you're more likely to get struck by lightning on your way to the clinic or get leveled by a car on your way to school, work, or whatever. But that doesn't stop you from doing those things every single day, does it? You're stressing over something that is borderline impossible. You'll be killed by a tooth infection full of bacteria and decay long before you ever deal with a prion from BSE during a procedure. A hell of a lot sooner.

In extremely rare cases, code is actually transferred during more complex procedures—but for those of us average hypochondriacs dealing with run-of-the-mill ailments, that’s hardly a concern.
And it definitely doesn't happen at the dentist's office.

Larry Walker24 said:That’s just impossible. It isn't contagious. You’d basically have to eat some mad cow to catch it—it doesn't spread from person to person.

Since when?

Edward Sanchez72 already laid it all out... I'm with him.

Whether someone actually has it or not, diagnosing prion diseases can only happen post-mortem. So, there’s really no reason to worry; even if you did have it, you wouldn't know for sure through any diagnostic testing.

fadedmarlin402 said:Since when?

Chain nailed it... I'm right there with him.

Oh, so you're some kind of cannibal now? Fine then!

Do you even know what a contagious disease actually is?