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Barbara Gerbert, PhD; Thomas Bleecker, PhD; Cara Miyasaki, MS
University of California, San Francisco

Bryan T. Maguire, PhD
University of Wales Bangor, Great Britain

JAMA. 1991;266(14):1935-1936.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

In Reply.

—Dr Taylor implies that transmission of HIV to the patients of the Florida dentist may have occurred from patient to patient, rather than from provider to patient. She may be referring to speculation that Dr Acer's dental instruments were, at some time, used on himself or his sexual partners.¹ If this were the case, transmission of HIV may have occurred through improper sterilization and disinfection of instruments. Our study did not propose to determine the actual route of transmission. Our goal was to assess, during a time of tremendous uncertainty, dentists' attitudes and beliefs about the possibility of HIV transmission in dental offices. At the time our survey was conducted (the summer of 1990), few of the dentists we surveyed suggested poor infection control as a route of transmission. Although Taylor and others may favor patient-to-patient transmission as an explanation for the Florida cases, in this instance, . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

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