Severe dental conditions associated with human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, infections go untreated more than twice as often as HIV-related medical problems, according to a study published in the winter edition of Journal of Public Health Dentistry.
Using data from the HIV Cost and Services Utilization Study, California researchers studied 2,864 HIV-positive adults who were interviewed about their unmet dental and medical care needs.
Researchers found that uninsured HIV-positive subjects were three times more likely to have untreated dental and medical needs than were those who had private insurance. Even Medicaid enrollees who had state-sponsored dental coverage reported having significantly more unmet dental needs than did privately insured patients.
Researchers found that patients younger than 50 years of age, the poor, the unemployed and those living in the South were more likely to report having had unmet dental and medical needs. This also was true for mixed-race people, American Indians, Eskimos, Aleuts, Pacific Islanders and Asians.
Researchers recommended that state insurance programs consider expanding their benefits structures to include dental care benefits for HIV-positive people. They also noted that a greater coordination of services is needed to serve both the dental and medical needs of diverse populations of HIV-positive people.
