HAART medication and oral health status in children and adolescent HIV infected: A case control study

The advent of Highly Active Anti-Retroviral Therapy (HAART) does influence the overall oral health care of children. The children undergoing HAART have shown an increase in caries activity owing to sugars in medicines to make them more palatable.

The aim of the study was to assess and compare the Oral Health of Children Living with HIV/AIDS (CLHAs) and Adolescents Living with HIV/AIDS (ALHAs) undergoing HAART and those who are HAART-naïve.

This study was carried out at different Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) across Kerala, India. The study group consisted of 150 HIV-infected children aged 6-18 years. They were divided into two groups. Group 1 comprised of children prior to onset of HAART and Group 2 included children who had been on HAART for more than 3 years (HAART naïve). The assessment of dental caries status and dental plaque status was done. The observations were tabulated and statistically analyzed.

On Statistical Analysis, significant difference was noted between the groups with the Group 1(2.26 ± 0.58;p value = .000^*) showing higher scores of dental plaque and a significant difference was also observed with respect to dental caries scores with DMFT and dmft scores higher in Group 2(dmft 2.08 ± 2.85; p value = .001^* and DMFT 4.10 ± 1.71;p value = .003*).

It was concluded that oral hygiene conditions were poor in children with HIV, with dental plaque scores more in HAART-naïve which may be due to their lesser visits and reinforcements regarding oral hygiene from a dentist and dental caries score more in HAART group, this may be attributed to the hidden sugars present in HAART medications to make it more palatable. Early recognition and management of oral conditions are important to improve the quality of life for these children.