Me and My ex-boyfriend were dating for a while and we kissed a lot. When we first kissed he had open sores in his mouth. The a few weeks later I got sores in my mouth. We still kissed a lot. After we broke up his brother and best friend told me that he was HIV positive! My first test and my 3 months test both came back negative, But I am still worried about it. My doctor told me that he wants me to come back for my 6 months test only because we both had open sores in our mouths. Is there any way that I could have HIV from this? I also still get sores in my mouth very often What do you think this could be from??

Thank You: 14 female

Whereas it is true that HIV can be transmitted orally, the vast majority of cases involved oral intercourse, not deep kissing. At the recent 4th International Oral AIDS Conference held in South Africa, the risk of transmission via oral intercourse was estimated to be approximately 0.04% per contact. In the one case of transmission via deep kissing that I am aware of, both participants had active blood within their mouths and open sores. Therefore the possibility that you are now HIV infected due to deep kissing is remote. I would suggest you follow you providers advice and follow up with a six month test.

What could be the cause of these ulcerations? Without the ability to see these ulcers, it is impossible for me to say for certain. The most common oral ulcers seen are 1. Aphthous ulcerations, which tend to present on non-keratinized tissues such as the inside of the cheeks and floor of the mouth and 2. Herpetic ulcerations which tend to present on fixed or keratinized tissues such as the roof the mouth (hard palate). Both of these ulcerations present in both HIV positive and negative individuals.

The next time you have an outbreak of these ulcers, please visit your dentist for a diagnosis as there are medications we can prescribe to lessen the severity and time of the outbreak.

Take care,

DR