Question
Will I need to tell the dental hospital about my HIV status?
14 September 2012. Related: Access to treatment, All topics, Disclosure.
My dentist has referred me to the dental hospital for the extraction of a partially erupted wisdom tooth. I haven’t told my dentist about my status as I would feel uncomfortable about doing so.
Will I need to tell the dental hospital when referred there, and will they then inform my dentist?
Surely I would not be a risk to other patients/healthcare workers who should be practising good infection control techniques anyway as many people who are infected do not know that they are and with my VL undetectable I would be less infectious than many unknowing patients.
Answer
Hi
The reasons for telling the hospital clinic is more likely to be for your care rather than for a concern over your risk to other health care workers.
Although some dentists have been and maybe still are prejudiced against HIV positive people, a hospital dental unit will be much more experienced. Many HIV positive people chose to have routine care at a hospital for this reason, especially if they have had difficulty get an NHS or private dentist.
Although I don’t think you are obliged to tell your dentist about your status, there are good reason to do so. With a more major operation in hospital, it is likely that an admission form will ask you these questions. For surgery it would be better for the unit to know.
I can’t answer whether the hospital will then add these details to your dental notes. If you are worried you could call as an anonymous patient and ask for their policy, and also whether they have the option for this to be information that you supply verbally but that doesn’t get recorded.
You are right that good dental practice has always protected other patients and staff against any theoretical risk. This is the case even if you were not on treatment. Having an undetectable viral load reduces this risk, but as blood is often in greater volumes than other bodily fluids health workers should still follow recommended procedures for all patients.
You could also cold-call your current dentist or ask a friend to do this, in order to ask for their policy on HIV positive patients. You could ask about registering and about their confidentiality policies. Their answers might influence how you feel about disclosure – and how you feel about your dentist.
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