Research Paper: knowledge and attitudes towards HIV/AIDS among dental students in Iran

Introduction: Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infection is known to be a cause of health and socioeconomic problems in affected patients. In 1981, approximately 25 million people were killed by HIV in the world. In 2015, World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that approximately 36 million people are infected with HIV throughout the world. The aim of this study was to assess the knowledge and attitudes concerning HIV/AIDS amongst Iranian dental students in 2019, and to evaluate the effect of school years and gender on the aforementioned items. Materials and Methods: A total of 200 questionnaires were distributed among Iranian dental students (Response rate = 93.5%)(n=187). Unpaired t-test and One-way ANOVA were used to evaluate their mean level of knowledge and attitude. Results: In total, 188 students filled out the questionnaires; of them, 97.8% were aware that dentists can be infected by HIV-positive patients and 3.3% did not know that oral manifestations are helpful in diagnosis of HIV-positive patients. Approximately, all the students (98.9%) believed that HIV transmission could occur via needle stick injury during the dental practice. About 40% (n=72) of the dental students believed that they were able to treat HIV/AIDS patients safely. Conclusion: The knowledge and attitude towards HIV/ AIDS of females and sixth year students were more significant than others. Knowledge and attitude amongst Iranian dental students towards HIV/AIDS were relatively good, but it should be reinforced.