HIV/AIDS is a major problem in with more than 25 percent of the adult population infected with HIV. Oral lesions and various opportunistic infections characterize the progression of HIV and for people living with HIV to access quality oral care. Objective: To investigate the barriers to oral health care for people living with HIV in the and the. Methods: A cross-sectional study utilising a self-administered questionnaire and semi-structured interviews. Participants were people living with HIV, older than 18 years. Binary logistic regression was performed to determine variables associated with not obtaining care. Results: The sample (n=435) comprised mainly of black females in the age group 20-29 years. There were statistically significant differences in terms of socio-demographic factors between the two provincial cohorts. Of the total number of participants, 347 (79.8%) had an oral health problem. Of this group, 83% (n=288) received care. Of those that received care, 56.6% (n=163) of the participants stated that the staff were aware of their HIV status. Almost a third of the participants who received care reported a negative experience at the clinic, with disparate reasons between the provincial cohorts. Participants living in a metro area, were 3.647 times more likely to receive care than those in a non-metropolitan areas (p <0.01) and those earning R5000 or less, were 0.106 times less likely to receive care (p = 0.048). Conclusion: People living with HIV still have unmet needs and experience barriers to oral health care. Marginalised groups such as women, the unemployed, low income earners and people in non-metro regions have difficulty accessing oral health care. Discrimination and stigmatisation also pose barriers to accessing oral health care. Specific strategies will need to be incorporated in the broader oral health care strategy to address to improve the status quo. |