Attitudes of dental practitioners and dental students towards AIDS patients and infection control

Members of a large urban dental society and students of three Texas dental schools were surveyed concerning their attitude and actions regarding infectious disease (AIDS and hepatitis) and infection control measures. In general, the responses of clinicians in practice less than 10 years more nearly paralleled that of students. Although the majority of both groups felt they were well informed regarding appropriate infection control, the percentage was significantly greater for the practitioners. While infection control is imposed in all clinical situations in the dental schools, compliance for practitioners was not consistent with their reported level of awareness. A majority of both groups reported decreased apprehension because of their knowledge of infection control techniques in the treatment of HIV positive individuals. A significantly higher percentage of students had received hepatitis B vaccine. Similar percentages of both groups reported they would willingly treat HIV positive patients, although a higher percentage of students were undecided. Practitioners reported having treated a significantly higher percentage of HIV positive individuals than did students in their clinical years. The percentage of clinical students who felt it was their professional obligation to treat HIV+ patients was significantly higher than in practitioners. There was an increase in student perception of their knowledge across years in school and a significant reduction in fear associated with education. Education appeared to have no effect on opinions as to whether the HIV positive patient could be safely treated using appropriate infection control measures.