Oral Health

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 by 18...

It is estimated that 1.1 million people in the United States are infected with HIV. Of those, 1 in 7 do not know they are infected.[1] The number of new HIV diagnoses fell 19% from 2005 to 2014.[1] Because HIV testing rates have remained stable or increased in recent years, this decrease in diagnose...

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 CD4 or viral load. Antibiotic use in...

A recent study that was conducted among 1200 HIV patient of whom 600 each belonged to with ART and without ART and the occurrence of oral candidiasis and oral hairy leukoplakia. This study shows that oral candidiasis and leukoplakia was less among patients on ART as well as a decrease in the number...

What is a dental emergency?

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 emergency care:

• Are you in severe pain? Severe...

HPV oral and oropharyngeal cancers are more difficult to detect than tobacco-related cancers because the symptoms are not always obvious to an individual, and health professionals may lack the education and background to diagnose HPV-related lesions. Although there are many adjunctive oral cancer sc...

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 fact...

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 seemingly recove...