مرکز منطقه ای اطلاع رساني علوم و فناوري - Assessment of the frequency of hepatitis A, B, C and HIV infections in dental patients of Kocaeli University, Faculty of Dentistry

Abstract :

OBJECTIVE: Dental practitioners are constantly in contact with blood and saliva, and therefore they are in a high-risk group. The objective of this study was to examine the prevalence of hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infections in patients who applied to the Kocaeli University, Faculty of Dentistry. MATERIALS AND METHOD: This study included the retrospective analysis of the anamnesis files of patients who had been admitted to the Kocaeli University, Faculty of Dentistry, between the dates 17.04.2013 and 10.05.2019. The total number of cases with a history of HAV, HBV, HCV, and HIV, their distribution by gender, age, and the number of dental treatment visits of these patients were determined. RESULTS: A total of 180,655 anamnesis files were examined. One thousand eight hundred nine patients with a history of HAV, HBV, HCV, and HIV were identified; 103 (0.057%) patients had HAV, 1,575 (0.871%) had HBV, 103 (0.057%) had HCV and 28 (0.015%) had HIV. These patients were scheduled in the clinic 54,328 times for dental treatment procedures. CONCLUSION: Increasing awareness of patients, dentists, and dental assistants about infectious viral diseases will reduce the risk of direct and indirect cross-infection-related transmissions.