Southeast AETC

Study shows SARS-CoV-2 infection risk at the dentist’s office is low.

A new study’s findings dispel the misconception that patients and providers are at high risk of catching COVID-19 at the dentist’s office.

SARS-CoV-2 spreads mainly through respiratory droplets, and...

Even before COVID-19 inexorably changed social and clinical protocols, dental offices dealt with patients who claimed to “know better” than their providers when it came to health risks. From unvaccinated patients to incomplete health histories, failure to cooperate results in ethical and legal...

With the number of Coronavirus cases surpassing 7.3 million and 210,000 deaths in the United States, dental offices continue to be faced with shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE). Surge capacity refers to the ability to manage a sudden increase in patient volume that would severely...

Highlights from the NIH Directors Blog (9/3/20), by Dr. Francis Collins

Among the many longer-term health problems that have been associated with COVID-19 are shortness of breath, fatigue, cognitive issues, erratic heartbeat, gastrointestinal issues, low-...

As the global battle to understand and eliminate the coronavirus continues, a new study published in the Journal of Dental Research demonstrates that testing of oropharyngeal secretions (OS) may reduce the number of false-negative results from nasal swab testing of patients who have...

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued updated interim infection prevention and control guidance for dental settings during the COVID-19 response on May 19, 2020, very similar to science-based guidance issued earlier in May by the American Dental Association (ADA).

The emergence of chronic disease complications in controlled HIV disease has changed the landscape of HIV clinical care. HIV infection confers an increased cardiovascular disease risk which is thought to be due to a complex interplay of mechanistic factors. While traditional cardiovascular risk...

Southern states today account for an estimated 44 percent of all people with an HIV diagnosis in the U.S.,[1] despite having only about one-third (37%) of the overall U.S. population. Diagnosis rates for people in the South are higher than for Americans overall. Eight of the 10 states...

I often get this question from non-dental personnel including case managers, physician assistants, nurses, and nurse practitioners. The following is a short list of questions you can ask patients to guide dental referrals for...

The question I most commonly get asked by oral health providers is...

Do I pre-medicate patients based on a high viral load and low CD4 count?

There is no supporting data to support the need for routine antibiotic coverage pre or post dental treatment based on...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services currently recommends that every person with HIV begin antiretroviral therapy (ART) as soon as possible after diagnosis. Increased availability of testing and treatment along with the above guidelines have reduced the number of new HIV infections...