Are Dentist At Risk With Hiv Positive Patients

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Dentist with exposure to positive patient

Hi Dr Frascino,Thank you for all you do on here! You are an inspiration to many and a wonderful resource for so many concerned folks.My situation is the following. I was performing a filling on an Hiv patient of mine and during the process was cut...

Response from Robert J. Frascino, M.D.

The Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation

Hello CS,Your HIV-acquisition risk is extremely low, but not completely nonexistent. That the patient's HIV plasma viral load was suppressed to undetectable levels significantly decreases the chance for HIV transmission. There are also... Read more »

Dentist working with HIV+ patients

Hello Dr. Bob! I am a senior dental student and I have recently volunteered to treat HIV+ patients and patients with AIDS at the medically complex dental care clinic in my dental school. As far as I have seen so far, we have not been instructed to...

Response from Robert J. Frascino, M.D.

The Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation

Hello,I agree with almost everything in your post. For instance, (1) no "extra" precautions are warranted or necessary when treating HIV-positive dental patients and (2) no "extra" sterilization procedures are warranted or... Read more »

Tell my new dentist I'm HIV+ ? (DISCLOSURE TO DENTIST)

I'm going to be going to a dentist in a couple of weeks. I'll be a new patient. I'll be having just a checkup and a cleaning. I'm wondering if it is necessary, or perhaps even required,that I inform the dentist that I am HIV+...

Response from Robert J. Frascino, M.D.

The Robert James Frascino AIDS Foundation

Hello,You are correct: all health care professionals use "universal precautions" to prevent the transmission of bloodborne disease to patients and vice versa. Personally, I would recommend disclosing your status to your dentist. This is... Read more »

needle stick risks from HIV positive patient

While taking care of a patient in the hospital, I was drawing blood using a butterfly needle (a very small needle connected to a flexible catheter). After discarding the needle in the sharps container and walking back to the patients bedside, I...

Response from Nancy Breuer

WorkPositive, Inc.

The odds of HIV infection from the kind of experience you describe are extremely low. For your own peace of mind, I encourage you to see your own health care provider right away for baseline tests. If you do not have documentation of your present... Read more »

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HIV Positive dentist

Posted by doglove, 5 Replies

I have been studying towards a career in the health professions. Just recently I have decided to go for a dental career. I am seriously reconsidering this as people might stop coming to me if they find out I am positive. It's a lot of money to... Read more »

Exposure risks with known HIV positive man

Posted by 2010Worrier36, 1 Reply

I am a gay male who last weekend met another gay male who told me he was HIV+ after we had fooled around. I'm now worried that I put myself at risk of exposure. He has been positive for 13 years now and seemed to care about safer sex.

These are the... Read more »

Do I have to tell my dentist?

Posted by dj1979, 7 Replies

I think I already know the answer to this, but am I obligated to reveal my status to my dentist? I am going for an extraction on Thursday. Since this is a small town, I am still really uncomfortable telling anyone. I know he is bound by law not... Read more »

Finger + Semen + HIV+Positive + Symptoms

Posted by Helpmeoutplz, 1 Reply

About 3 weeks ago I engaged in what I believed to be safe sex.

Before this encounter I was tested negative. I'm a guy, and met another guy and we did some things. He fingered me a while, and was really rough back there(anus). He also dipped his... Read more »

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