THE 1990 FLORIDA DENTAL INVESTIGATION - IS THE CASE REALLY CLOSED

In 1994, a magazine article, a newspaper article, and a segment of the television newsmagazine 60 Minutes presented information that cast do ubt on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's conclusion tha t a dentist in Florida had infected six of his patients with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). These reports were based on previously unavailable documentary evidence, which suggested that the infected pa tients had unreported or undetected risk factors for HIV infection and that the molecular analyses used to determine that the dentist and hi s patients had the same strains of HIV had potentially serious flaws. A recent article in this journal sought to dismiss the relevance of th is information in the eyes of the scientific community. That report, h owever, failed to respond directly to many key pieces of evidence, and it offered no rebuttal beyond personal invective and a reassertion of previously published material. Although scientists and clinicians sho uld not rely solely on media reports when drawing conclusions about th is complex and controversial case, they deserve a chance to consider a nd reflect on this material in a meaningful way.