Precautions reported to be used against cross-infection and attitudes to the dental treatment of HIV-positive patients in routine clinical dental practice in Scotland

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the precautions against cross-infection currently employed in routine practice by Scottish dentists, to relate these to current recommendations and to determine Scottish dentists' views on how dental treatment should be provided for patients known to be HIV positive. The subjects were 926 general dental practitioners and 201 clinical community dental officers among respondents to a questionnaire sent to a list of 1726 dental practitioners in Scotland. The results suggest that while some dentists are prepared to take an element of personal risk (in spite of recent improvements 18 per cent are still unvaccinated against hepatitis B, 66 per cent do not wear surgical gloves during routine treatment and 21 per cent claim not to wear gloves during procedures involving ‘bloodletting’), the vast majority (95 per cent) are nevertheless taking steps to protect their patients from cross-infection by using autoclave and dry heat sterilization. One-quarter of general dental practitioners and one-half of clinical community dental officers felt that HIV-positive patients should generally be treated in the branch of the dental service in which they worked, although greater proportions (52 per cent and 69 per cent respectively) said they were prepared to treat a regular patient who became HIV positive.