Hello doctor, Thank you for all you have done & continue to do. You are my hero. Please advise me on french kissing. I am poz, my lover is neg., can we french kiss? or just " dry " kiss. And can I rimm him & him rimm me. Please advise & thank you once again...

Hello,

I must admit I'm a bit of a Francophile (love all things French), and kissing is no exception. My view on the HIV risk associated with kissing is summed up in the lyrics of a famous song, "A kiss is just a kiss, as time goes by . . . ." Could there be even the slightest whiff of a risk? Sure, there could be extenuating circumstances. You both could have had extensive dental surgery on the same day, and then played tonsil hockey all night. But that is highly unlikely. In reality, we all accept some small degree of risk in our lives every day, right? For instance despite the fact we all know people can be struck by lightening, we still go outside when it's raining.

As for rimming, I don't know any lyrics to famous songs, but the story is the same. And I can advise you there have been no recorded cases of acquiring HIV from rimming or getting rimmed. I'm sure someone will write a song about it sometime soon. Perhaps something a bit clever like "Sometimes I can't help 'butt lick' you!"

Dr. Bob