With the objective of assessing patients’ perception of acquiring HIV virus in the dental practice and evaluating their attitudes towards continuing the treatment with dentists who treat HIV individuals or who are HIV positive themselves, 518 interviews were carried out with members of the Military Police of Minas Gerais and their dependents who had recently completed their treatment with 233 different practitioners. It was observed that the vast majority of the participants (88.4%) believed that HIV virus could be transmitted during dental procedures. Several interviewees reported that they would not return to their dentists if s/he was caring for HIV patients (42.9%) nor if s/he was HIV positive her/himself (45.0%). Those participants treated by dentists who adopted adequate barrier techniques were more likely to continue their treatment if the professional was treating HIV patients. However, there was not a direct association between the adoption of barrier techniques and the acceptance of being treated by an HIV positive dentist. The present findings suggest that more information should be transmitted to the public about the risk of HIV infection and its prevention in the dental setting.
Dentistry; HIV-infection; Cross-infection control
