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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Georgina P. Zabos, DDS, MPH, Kavita P. Ahluwalia, DDS, MPH, Tanya Darlington, DDS, Yessica M. Diaz, MSW, MPH, Ejiro Esi, and Baharak Fooladi. School of Dental and Oral Surgery, Columbia University, Division of Community Health, 630 West 168 St, New York, NY 10032
Harlem United, an Adult Day Health Care Center for people with HIV/AIDS, has been providing comprehensive primary care since 1997. Dental services, which are an integral component of the care required by HIV+ individuals were first offered in 1999. The Columbia University School of Dental and Oral Surgery (SDOS) mobile HIV team provides preventive and early intervention services on-site; patients requiring comprehensive dental care are referred to off-site locations at SDOS and its affiliates. An 18 month review of the dental component of the program illustrates the extremely high levels of unmet dental need experienced by this population. The average age of the clients was 48 years. Of the 85 patients seen during the review period, 13 (15%) were completely edentulous at baseline examination. When assessed for caries risk, of clients with teeth (n=71), 48 (68%) were at high risk for caries, and over 25% were at medium risk for the disease. Integrated dental services were well received - an average of 11 on-site dental visits were made by clients; 54% were preventive visits and only 7% were for emergency care. During the 18 month review period, 93% of those with teeth, received professionally applied topical fluorides, 54% of clients who received referrals followed through with treatment, 24 (30%) completed treatment, and average dental caries risk in dentate clients was lowered from 2.63 to 2.55. These data indicate that integrated dental services can result in improved delivery of preventive and comprehensive dental services in people with HIV/AIDS.
Learning Objectives: Participants will be able to
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.