Risk factors for variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease in dental practice: a case-control study.

Objective: To assess the risk of variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD) associated with dental treatment.

Design: Case-control study, investigation of links between cases.

Setting: National CJD surveillance, general dental practice and practice boards in Great Britain, 2008-2009.

Methods: Variant CJD cases were recruited from all those referred between May 1995 and August 2009 (n = 160); controls were recruited from the general population in 2003 using randomly selected geographic clusters and age-weighted sampling of individuals (n = 584). Risk factors were ascertained from dental records, with consent, using a structured questionnaire.

Results: Dental records were available for fewer cases (49%, 78 out of 160) than control subjects (78%, 457 out of 584). Variant CJD cases were no more or less likely than control subjects to have undergone dental treatment (p ≥0.05). Two cases had attended the same dental practice, but the type and timing of treatments did not provide strong evidence that this was linked to the route of transmission.

Conclusion: There is no evidence of a vCJD risk associated with dental treatment, but because dental information is limited we cannot exclude this possibility. Improved methods for dental record keeping are recommended to aid future investigations of associations between infectious diseases and dental treatment.