UWI to establish dental clinic for AIDS patients

The University of the West Indies will establish a clinic dedicated to serving the oral health care needs of Persons Living With HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). Prof SR Prabhu of UWI’s School of Dentistry made the announcement on Tuesday at the inaugural ceremony for the workshop “HIV/AIDS in Dental Practice,” hosted by UWI at the JFK Auditorium in St Augustine. The clinic is one of three major goals identified by the School of Dentistry in its response to the oral health care needs of PLWHAs. Education and research are the other areas. Over 40 conditions are known to occur in the oral cavity of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA). “Some of them are potentially life threatening. Available evidence points to the fact that the role of the dentist in diagnosis of oral manifestation of HIV is required,” said Prof Prabhu. “I feel many practitioners of dentistry may not be adequately motivated or trained to provide oral care to patients with HIV.” He said dentists must shoulder the responsibility for adequately preparing their students to diagnose and manage oral manifestations of diseases.

Prof Prabhu said good oral health care was one of the key factors which contributed to better health and improved quality of life. He said this was especially true for PLWHAs. He said the Dentistry School had already committed to providing oral care for the children of the Cyril Ross Nursery. He announced the introduction of HIV/AIDS education on the undergraduate curriculum of the School of Dentistry and the establishment of a research team. Prof Prabhu said the school hoped to collaborate with regional and international researchers. “Oral care providers and other health care providers simply need to look into the mouth, and recognise abnormalities. Look for things that don’t look normal,” said feature speaker Prof Joel Epstein of the University of Illinois College of Dentistry in his presentation on “Oral Cavity and HIV/AIDS.” He said when an abnormality was recognised, diagnosis could be made, treatment administered and the disease managed. “People who have HIV need dental care too. We need to treat them as we would any other individual,” Prof Epstein said.