Endodontic treatment for persons who are HIV positive

There was great confusion during the first 15 years of the HIV pandemic regarding the safety and effectiveness of endodontic treatment. A number of case studies reported significant infections following endodontic treatment, resulting in recommendations that HIV positive individuals simply extract their teeth. This policy was not based on science and led to significant oral health deficits for such patients. This NIH funded study of 247 patients reports the success rate for HIV positive individuals compared with a control group, standardized for oral health problems. The HIV positive goupr was monitored for CD4 counts and viral loads. The results showed that the HIV positive group had a higher rate of successful endodontic treatment than the control group. Further, although the data is not conlcusive, it appears that there is a trend that shows following endodontic treatment in the HIV positive group, the CD$ counts increased while the viral load decreased, indicating the positive effects of eliminating a source of infection.