To locate a dentist that is both knowledgeable in the diagnosis and treatment of HIV-related diseases of the teeth, gums and mouth and is compassionate in caring for his clients is challenging. There is no immunological specialty in dentistry. All dentists have basic knowledge from dental school or mandatory programs of HIV/AIDS continuing education, according to the American Dental Association. This means you will not find a list of HIV/AIDS dentists through your local Dental Society and there is no Board Certification to check. But there are ways to find an experienced dentist through knowledgeable referrals.
Step 1
Start with a call to your immunologist, infectious disease specialist or whoever is prescribing your HIV medication. Ask for the name of two or three dentists they collaborate with most successfully when caring for patients with HIV/AIDS. These will generally be dentists who are interested in this area of dentistry and are staying up to date, as this field rapidly changes.
Step 2
Call your local Dental Society or State Dental Association and ask if they are conducting continuing education programs or having a speaker addressing a HIV/AIDS related topic in the next few months. Ask if they had a similar program in the past few years. The names of those speakers, if they are local dentists, will include practitioners with enough interest in the area to prepare a presentation for their colleagues and enough expertise to be invited to speak. Those are dentists to consider in your search for an HIV-experienced dentist.
Step 3
Find the dentists who volunteer on local Board of Directors or Board of Advisors for HIV/AIDS clinics, AIDS hospice, your local college's Gay and Lesbian student association or a member organization of the National Gay and Lesbian Task Force. HIV/AIDS affects people of all sexual orientations but the dentists who serve on these Boards of Directors may have more clients with HIV than the typical dentist. There are no official AIDS-specialists in dentistry but the more HIV-challenged patients a dentist sees each year the more likely they are to stay current in the field. A dentist who offers his free time to one of these Boards or offers free treatment for HIV-AIDS clients has also demonstrated his commitment to service. Their care is likely to reflect this compassion and sense of responsibility.
Step 4
Use a pharmaceutical representative as your personal dental screener. Pharmaceutical representatives visit dentists to teach them about the newest medications. They know who tells them they don't treat any clients with HIV, and who treats many patients. They have the opportunity to assess the dentist's manner with staff and patients and they see who's keeping up to date as they discuss new research. Since you are a potential client of the pharmaceutical company too it is also in their company's interest to make an informed referral. Call the company's information number and simply ask for the representative responsible for covering dental sales. The companies that manufacture these medications, according to a January 2010 update by the US Food and Drug Administration include Bristol-Meyers Squib, GlaxcoSmithKline,Abbot Labs and Gilead Sciences.
Tips and Warnings
- In Denver, Colorado the Howard Clinic does nothing but HIV-AIDS dentistry. In 2006, funded by the The Pierre Fauchard Academy, its staff dentists wrote a monograft series on HIV-AIDS in dentistry that is designed to inform dentists about lab results, related oral diseases and treatment alternatives. Reading this document before your first visit with a dentist will allow you assess the dentist's knowledge more accurately. It will also let you make certain nothing essential is left out of your dental care.
