Medication usage and dental caries outcome-related variables in HIV/AIDS patients

The purpose of this study was to access current medication usage by HIV/AID S patients and its effects on dental caries and on unstimulated salivary fl ow rates. Thirty females and 127 males (mean age = 39.6 +/- 7.4 years), of whom 46% were White/Non-Hispanic, 39% African-American, and 15% Hispanic, w ere examined and interviewed at the Bering Dental Clinic, Houston, Texas. T he mean time in years after seroconversion was 5.4 +/- 4.1. Calibrated exam iners performed dental caries examination (DMFS) with dental explorers and bitewing radiographs. Interviews were carried out with pretested questionna ires, and medication usage was assessed by illustrative examples of HIV/AID S medications. Salivary flow rates were determined gravimetrically (mL/min) . Bivariate analysis and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to analyze the data. Because there were no race or gender effects on dental caries out come variables or salivary flow rates, separate logistic regression models for medication usage were generated, which were adjusted for age and CD4(+) cell counts. Patients who, currently, were receiving antiretroviral therap y (ART) had a lower occurrence of dental caries than patients not taking th ese medications. An unexpected finding in the lower caries rate group was a decrease in salivary flow rates, which was a probable oral side effect of ART. It appears from this cross-sectional study that systemic medication fo r the management of HIV disease has no significant detrimental effect on th e dentition.