Oral health referral trigger tools for people living with HIV

Abstract

This study validated and compared two different Oral Health Referral Trigger Tools in the form of brief (3-item and 5-item) questionnaires designed to identify people living with HIV (PLHIV) with symptoms of oral disease requiring a dental referral from other health professionals. It was composed of a self-completed questionnaire and oral screen by a dentist of a convenience sample selected from PLHIV attending two outpatient clinics for routine nondental care for HIV infection. The dental exam was completed by a single dentist at a third location. The one hundred participants were HIV positive, predominantly male and of Caucasian origin with a mean age of 45.6 years. Both referral tools were found to be valid and had adequate sensitivity to identify HIV positive subjects at risk of oral disease and facilitate appropriate referral by nondental health professionals to dental health service. When both tools were compared the 3-item tool proved to be a more valid and sensitive indicator which could be easily applied by nondental staff to facilitate a dental referral.