Do people with HIV/AIDS disclose their HIV-positivity to dentists?

This study documents behaviours of people with HIV/AIDS regarding the discl osure of their HIV-positivity when seeking dental care. An anonymous survey was conducted in Quebec, Canada, from 1993 to 1995, using a sample of 463 people with HIV/AIDS recruited from different sources. Over 80% of responde nts reported having sought dental care since becoming aware of their positi vity. Of these, 54% reported having always disclosed their HIV-positivity t o dentists, while 25% reported never having disclosed this information to d entists. However, 83% of all respondents preferred that the dentist be awar e of their HIV status. Respondents gave reasons related to the sociopatholo gical impact of HIV infection to explain their behaviours. The predictors o f disclosure of HIV-positivity to the dentist were: gender, main source of payment for dental care, prior disclosure of HIV status to family members, prior disclosure of HIV status to co-workers, and trust in the maintenance of confidentiality by the dentist. These results emphasize the need to use universal precautions ill the dental office and to promote dentist-patient relations free of discrimination, so that people with HIV/AIDS are not relu ctant to disclose their health status and are confident that such disclosur e will lead to care best adapted to their condition.