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The oral health of HIV ‐infected Brazilian children
Author(s) -
Aguiar Ribeiro Apoena,
Portela Maristela Barbosa,
Souza Ivete Pomarico Ribeiro
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
international journal of paediatric dentistry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.183
H-Index - 62
eISSN - 1365-263X
pISSN - 0960-7439
DOI - 10.1111/ipd.12008
Subject(s) - medicine , gingivitis , oral hygiene , dentistry , etiology , human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) , dental plaque , oral health , soft tissue , family medicine , surgery
Background The number of HIV ‐infected people has increased almost continuously. Paediatric dentists should be concerned about the oral findings in HIV ‐infected children and their aetiologic factors, to promote adequate treatment. Aim To present the oral health aspects of Brazilian HIV ‐infected children and to verify the aetiological factors. Design A cross‐sectional study was conducted with HIV ‐infected children. During the medical appointments, children were submitted to visual‐tactile exams of oral soft tissues and teeth. All parents answered questions in a structured interview. Data were analysed using the SPSS , release 10.0 (Chicago, IL , USA ). Results Of the 57 children examined, 39 (69.6%) presented one or more oral soft tissue manifestations. More than a half suffered from gingivitis and only 12.5% had no visible dental biofilm. A high prevalence of dental surfaces with active carious lesions was observed; mean DMFS ‐m and dmfs‐m scores were 5.41 ± 5.61 and 16.77 ± 19.52, respectively. Caries activity and gingivitis were correlated with the presence of mature dental biofilm. Conclusions Prevalence of soft tissue lesions, dental caries and gingivitis in HIV ‐infected children was high and correlated to lack of satisfactory oral hygiene habits, suggesting the need of therapeutic programmes that allow these children to recover their oral health.