Abstract

AGUILERA S, Diego et al. Experience and Opinion of People Living with HIV about the Dental Care Provided. Rev. Inst. Med. Trop. [online]. 2014, vol.9, n.1, pp.7-16. ISSN 1996-3696.

Frequent dental care plays an important role in the prevention, early diagnosis and treatment of diseases. People living with HIV AIDS (PLWHA) are a risk group that can acquire any type of disease, which should be under strict medical supervision regime. Certain factors, such as discrimination by members of staff (doctors, dentists, etc.) hinder the practice. The aim of the study was to determine the experience and opinion of People Living with HIV/AIDS virus on dental care provided. A questionnaire of 10 questions was applied to 113 People Living with HIV/AIDS virus registered on the Institute of Tropical Medicine. 71.7% of respondents rated the dental care received as excellent. 59.3% of People Living with HIV/AIDS virus reported that they do not inform the dentist of their condition. 41.3% of patients reported experiencing discrimination from a dentist. Relating discrimination and type of service used, it was found that there is not enough statistical evidence to say that being a victim of discrimination depends on the type of service used (p=0.09). With the applied methodology we conclude that the discrimination index is still very high in dental clinics, and People Living with HIV/AIDS virus do not make sufficient efforts to maintain their oral health, reflecting the need to inform and educate the dentist regarding the unlawfulness of discriminating patients by their medical condition, and People Living with HIV/AIDS virus on the multiple benefits that comes with seeing a dentist regularly.

Keywords : Discrimination; Dentistry; Oral Health.

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