Patient acceptance of HIV rapid testing in the dental care setting

ABSTRACT

Dental settings are untapped venues to identify patients with undiagnosed HIV who may otherwise lack testing opportunities. Perceived lack of patient acceptance has been a significant barrier limiting dentists’ willingness to offer HIV testing. This study implemented rapid HIV testing in dental settings located in an HIV prevalent region to evaluate patient acceptance. Two South Florida community health centers implemented routine oral rapid HIV testing as part of clinical practice, followed by exit interviews with patients immediately after to determine patient acceptance. The binary primary outcome was patient’s acceptance of the rapid HIV test. Multivariable logistic regression assessed associations between patient characteristics and acceptance. Overall acceptance by dental patients (N = 600) was 84.5%. Patients who were more likely to participate in other medical screenings in dental settings were more than twice as likely to accept the test compared to those who were neutral/less likely (OR: 2.373; 95% CI: 1.406–4.004). Study findings highlight the high patient acceptance of HIV testing in dental settings. Widespread implementation of such testing will require an expanded societal view of the traditional role of the dentist that will embrace the potentially valuable role of dentistry in preventive health screenings and population health.

KEYWORDS:

• Oral health
• HIV
• preventive screening

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Program Announcement PS11-003; Award#1U01PS003321. We thank participating dental clinic patients and staff (especially Jessie Trice Community Health Center, Inc., Deborah George, DMD; Care Resource, Manuel Casas, MD, DMD) for working with us as part of this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Centers for Disease Controls and Prevention (CDC): [Grant Number 1U01PS003321].