Preventive Control of AIDS by the Dental Profession: A Survey of Practices in a Large Urban Area

The purpose of this study was threefold: (1) to report the proportion of dental practitioners adhering to the 1987 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) procedures for using infection control techniques (ICTs); (2) to identify attitudes toward infection control and disease; and (3) to establish whether certain practitioner characteristics or use of certain ICTs were related to willingness to treat HIV‐positive patients, willingness to volunteer for an HIV specialty clinic outside of regular practice, vaccination against hepatitis B, and a felt need for a specialty clinic within the practice to treat HIV patients effectively. A survey of approximately 3,800 members of a major metropolitan dental society found that 89 percent of respondents regularly used at least one CDC ICTbeyond routine medical histories. Ninety‐one percent indicated a moderate to extreme change in attitude toward the risks of infectious diseases and the regular use of ICTs (80.2% identified AIDS as the major factor in this change). Twenty‐seven percent indicated that they would knowingly treat HIV‐positive patients. No differences were found among practitioners willing to treat HIV‐infected patients and those unwilling to treat these patients in terms of adherence to the CDC ICT recommendations for dentists. Statistical association between ICT use and other practitioner response variables are discussed.