Multicenter survey reveals low overall discrimination but links procedure stress to discriminatory attitudes in dental students, indicating a need for targeted training.
Key Points
To assess the attitudes of dental students toward HIV-positive patients and identify key factors associated with discriminatory behavior.
Conducted an observational, multicentric questionnaire-based survey across Italian dental schools.
Evaluated demographic details, previous clinical interactions with HIV-positive patients, disease knowledge, and adherence to preventive protocols among N=470 dental students.
Discriminatory attitudes were reported by 6.8% of students (32/470), differing significantly by region: Northern Italy (9.8%), Central Italy (6.5%), and Southern Italy (0.9%) (p = 0.006).
Acting as the first operator significantly increased the odds of discriminatory behavior (OR = 43.9, 95% CI: 5.9–327.8, p = 0.009) compared to acting as a second operator (OR = 13.4, 95% CI: 1.47–121.7, p = 0.02), with perceived stress also correlating with discriminatory attitudes (p = 0.008).
High baseline knowledge was observed: 99.8% correctly identified transmission routes, 85.6% were aware of post-exposure prophylaxis, and 91.8% desired more HIV-specific dental education.