Decision on HIV-positive dentists

The move has been called for by the BDA and others for many years.

It is a victory for common sense, the BDA believes, because it reflects the fact that, globally, over the past 20 years no dental professional has been linked with the transmission of HIV infection to a patient, and huge advances in anti-retroviral treatment mean that the virus can be suppressed to the point where it is undetectable in a blood test. 

The BDA has long called for an end to the policy whereby HIV-infected dentists who are otherwise well and on effective anti-retroviral treatment are forced to give up their chosen career. Further, patient safety in dental settings has been enhanced over the past two decades by the adoption of universal precautions and a legal duty to comply with rigorous infection control procedures.

The Department of Health's change in policy is based on an expert assessment by a Tripartite Working Group of the accumulated evidence from around the world on the negligible risk of transmitting HIV from an infected healthcare worker to a patient.