HIV infection in children: a challenge to dental practice

Human immunodeficiency virus infection in children is on the increase globally. Because of diagnostic difficulties of HIV infection in children, among other reasons, all children are suspects. As a result of new developments in the treatment of this condition, more people with HIV infection/AIDS will survive and require dental treatment on a long-term basis. Dental practitioners who treat children and adolescents are faced with increasing challenge of providing optimum oral health care for all youths regardless of their being infected with HIV or not. The paper presents the diversified roles dentists in African countries have to play owing to prevailing peculiar circumstances in their communities. They should not only be oral diagnosticians and oral health care providers, but also health educators and promoters, researchers, counsellors, and social workers. All oral health personnel particularly the dentist, must be well-learned to meet these demands. By discharging these duties effectively, the spread of HIV infection will be curbed, and both the oral health and the entire well-being of the child population will be enhanced.