Dental Protection has welcomed the announcement from the Department of Health that there will be a public consultation about the regulation of healthcare workers with HIV that currently prevents some members of the dental profession from working normally. The existing regulations are more than two decades old and do not take into account the pharmaceutical advances in controlling the infectivity of the retrovirus. Nor do they recognise the current standards of audited infection control that all dental practices are expected to achieve.

'The introduction of effective antiretroviral therapy in the 1990s combined with the absence of any proven transmission in the dental setting makes it totally unfair to continue to force members of the dental team to quit their chosen profession,' said Kevin Lewis, Dental Director.

The British Dental Association (BDA) have also welcomed this announcement and will be submitting a formal response to the Department of Health. Please visit www.bda.org for the BDA's comments.