HIV/AIDS, Counseling and the Dentist in Nigeria:

OBJECTIVE: HIV/AIDS is a leading cause of illness and death in Nigeria. Unlike any other issue, it also has significant, socio-economic, education, health and management consequences for our country. Signs and symptoms of HIV/AIDS often appear in the mouth long before they show up in other parts of the body. The dentist as an oral health care provider is therefore strategically positioned to help mitigate the impact of the epidemic on the society. This report presents a case report of a patient that committed suicide on learning of her HIV/AIDS status. The authors’ objective is to highlight the need for dentists to contribute their own quota to the wider initiatives in HIV/AIDS prevention, care and impact mitigation by facilitating creative responses to meet the emerging challenges of our time.

METHOD: Issues are highlighted relating to the case report where a 38-year-old patient who presented in our clinic, committed suicide after learning she was HIV positive.

RESULT: Identification of the need to re-attune the various training curricula to integrate quality training on counseling techniques that would ensure that HIV testing is informed, voluntary and consented.

CONCLUSION: However, one major handicap for most dentists in Nigeria is the lack of formal training in counseling techniques. This often results in the failure to obtain informed consent from their patients and to offer routine counseling prior to HIV testing. Any chair-side counseling provided by the dentist is usually poor and highly ineffective. The need for management of anxiety and depression in patients who prove to be positive is also often overlooked. The consequence of such actions should not be taken lightly as it can be psychologically damaging, thus accelerating the patient’s deterioration.