HIV/Aids tests in London dental clinics

Dental Tribune International

Mon. 1 December 2025

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LONDON, England: In the Global North, HIV/Aids is often seen as a historic problem; however, as UNAIDS Executive Director Winnie Byanyima stressed in a new landmark report, disruptions to the global HIV/Aids response in 2025 have exposed the fragility of the progress that has been made so far. Rapid point-of-care testing remains an effective diagnostic tool in the fight against the virus and a team of UK researchers has trialled chairside testing in London dental practices. Despite concluding that dental teams could reach an otherwise untested segment of the population in high-prevalence areas, the researchers ultimately concluded that a full-scale trial of the service was unfeasible.

The researchers pointed out that an estimated 5% of those with HIV in the UK are undiagnosed and that nearly half of all cases in the country are diagnosed too late. The study aimed to determine the acceptability and feasibility of point-of-care testing in UK dental settings, hypothesising that expanding testing “into non-traditional healthcare settings such as dental practices could offer an opportunity to access an untapped population”.

An opt-out HIV testing programme was initiated in four dental settings in central London in May 2019. Two of the locations were community dental service clinics providing care to people without housing. One was a National Health Service (NHS) general dental practice and one was a private dental clinic. All adult patients with sufficient English skills were asked to complete an acceptability questionnaire, and those who accepted testing were offered a rapid finger prick HIV test. A total of 441 patients were offered testing, 211 agreed and 306 patients completed the questionnaire.

No previously undiagnosed HIV infections were identified. Younger adults had the highest test uptake, and the 60–69 age group had the lowest. Patients from Black, Asian and other minority ethnic backgrounds were significantly more likely to accept testing than white patients were. Among those utilising community dental services or NHS practices, two-thirds of patients agreed to the testing, compared with over a third in the private practice setting.

Most respondents felt that HIV testing in dental clinics was beneficial and should be made available in all dental settings. They were generally comfortable with dentists offering and performing HIV tests and communicating the results thereof. Most participants did not believe that testing for the virus should be exclusively performed by medical doctors and sexual health specialists.

Key motivations for accepting a test included the importance participants placed on knowing their HIV status, as well as the speed and convenience of the chairside test. Conversely, the most common reasons for declining a test included a perceived low personal risk of infection, having recently been tested elsewhere or simply not wanting a test on that day. Significantly, around one-third of those who accepted testing and completed the questionnaire reported that they had never previously been tested for HIV.

However, despite favourable uptake and high reported acceptability, the researchers concluded that a full-scale trial or rollout of this specific model of testing in dental settings was not feasible without substantial systemic changes. The barriers that the research team observed included challenges relating to cost, recruitment and intervention fidelity.

The study, titled “Point-of-care HIV testing in UK dental settings: Outcomes of a feasibility and acceptability study”, was published online on 21 November 2025 in the British Dental Journal.

“Most significant setback in decades”—a new UNAIDS report warns

In the lead up to World AIDS Day, which is observed yearly on 1 December, the non-governmental organisation UNAIDS released a report detailing signs of concerning decline but also resilience in the global HIV/Aids response.

According to the Overcoming Disruption, Transforming the AIDS Response report, in 2025, sharp cuts in international HIV funding have led to the most serious reversal in the global HIV response seen in decades. The fall in external health assistance associated with the deepened funding shortfalls is estimated at 30%–40%. This has resulted in far-reaching and major disruptions to community-led services in the low- and middle-income countries hit hardest by the HIV/Aids crisis.

HIV prevention services have been severely disrupted, causing major declines in access to preventive medicines and creating large protection gaps. Programmes for adolescent girls and young women have been dismantled in many settings, despite an estimated 570 new HIV infections per day in girls and women aged 15–24 in 2024. Community- and women-led organisations have widely closed or suspended services for key populations.

“If we do not step up on prevention, we could see new infections rising.”—Winnie Byanyima, UNAIDS

Byanyima commented in a press conference: “I wouldn’t say that we are slowing down, but we are losing momentum. If we do not step up on prevention, we could see new infections rising.” She explained that the funding disruptions have hit prevention harder than treatment, and UNAIDS expects that this will result in new infections rising.

There are now 40.8 million people with HIV/Aids, and 1.3 million new infections were recorded last year. The report emphasises that a failure to meet 2030 Global AIDS Strategy targets could result in 3.3 million additional new infections between 2025 and 2030, above and beyond current infection rates.

The report calls on global leaders to reaffirm international solidarity and uphold the fundamental human right to health. It outlines resilience demonstrated and swift action taken by countries to plug funding gaps and shore up national prevention and treatment programmes.

“This is our moment to choose,” Byanyima urged in a press release, adding: “We can allow these shocks to undo decades of hard-won gains, or we can unite behind the shared vision of ending AIDS.”

Topics:

General Dentistry

Tags:

Dental research HIV/AIDS Holistic dentistry Point-of-care test Preventive care Systemic health

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