Patients' Fear of Contracting the Blood-Borne Infections from Dentists

Abstract

Introduction: There has been no recent assessment of public attitudes and opinions concerning risk of blood-borne pathogen transmission during health care. To assess public attitudes and opinions towards dentists infected with blood-borne viruses, this study was carried out.

Materials and Methods: Six items in this cross-sectional survey were used to assess current attitudes and opinions about dentists infected with Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B and C Viruses, and the risk of blood-borne virus transmission during health care in a sample of 500 cases, in Yazd. Data were analyzed by SPSS (version 13) and chi-square tests were used, when appropriate.

Results: Of 500 respondents, 94% agreed that they want to know whether their dentist is infected with HIV, HBV or HCV; 93.8% agreed that disclosure of HIV, HBV or HCV infection in a provider should be mandatory. However, 15.8% did not believe that HIV-infected dentists were more likely to infect patients than those dentists infected with HBV or HCV. Opinions were divided on whether HIV-infected providers should be able to care for patients as long as they use good infection control: only 41.6% thought that infected providers should be allowed to provide patient care.

Conclusion: These findings suggest that improved public education and risk communication on health care-associated blood-borne infections is needed.

Keywords: Acute immunodeficiency syndrome, Dentist, Fear, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis C virus, Human immunodeficiency virus