Dental care of HIV-positive individuals plays a vital role in improving their nutritional intake, medication tolerance and effectiveness, treatment success rate, and quality of life. It is therefore important to ensure optimal dental care of this group of people, especially since more of them, with or without knowledge of their serologic status, are now utilizing dental services. The objective of this study was to assess Nigerian dental students' willingness to treat HIV-positive individuals. A descriptive crosssectional survey of all seventy-six final-year dental students of the University of Benin, Nigeria, was conducted in December 2007 using a self-administered questionnaire that elicited information on the students' demography, self-rated knowledge on HIV/ AIDS, attitude towards homosexuals, infection control practices, occupational risk perception, and willingness to provide care for HIV-positive individuals. The response rate was 76.3 percent. Over 77 percent of the respondents were in the twenty-five to thirty years age group. The male-female ratio was approximately 1.6:1. HIV-related knowledge was reported as high by only 31 percent of the respondents. Eighty-one percent showed great interest in HIV-related information, while about half (53.4 percent) exhibited significant worry about occupational contagion. Forty-eight (82.7 percent) desired more knowledge about safety precautions during treatment of HIV patients. Fifty respondents (86.2 percent) reported good infection control practices. About three-fourths (74.2 percent) rated the risk of HIV contagion from patients high, while only one-fourth (25.8 percent) reported having an unsympathetic attitude towards homosexuals. Almost all respondents (98.3 percent) agreed that oral care for HIV-positive individuals improves their quality of life, but only 58.8 percent expressed a willingness to treat HIV-positive patients and only 46.5 percent said they will render volunteer dental services in HIV centers. HIV prevalence will determine the location of practice of 41.4 percent of the respondents. The result suggests the need to have a comprehensive educational/motivational program for the next generation of dentists in Nigeria in order to ensure adequate care of HIV-positive individuals. The perceived deficiency revealed in this study can also serve as a vital guide for curriculum change on HIV-related issues.Dr. Azodo is Senior Registrar/Associate Lecturer,

e15813th International Congress on Infectious Diseases Abstracts, Poster Presentations of multi-class primary resistance was 1,5% 2005-2006, and 2,6% 2007. K103N was detected as a minority viral quasispecies in 8/224 patients (3,6%), and M184V in 1/68 patients (1,5%). When these variants were considered, primary resistance rose to 16.9% (6,4%,NRTIs; 8,5%, NNRTIs).Conclusions: primary resistance to antiretrovirals in the South East of Spain has been estimated in 11% thorugh the years 2005-2007. K103N and M184V are present as minority variants in the newly diagnosed patients of our cohort. No significant changes in trasmitted drug resistance during the study period have been detected.

Mesiodistal crown dimensions of the permanent dentition were assessed in a Nigerian population. The study sample consisted of 54 dental casts of Nigerian subjects (33 males; 21 females) with a mean age of 26.6 (sd = 2.1) years. The subjects had their permanent teeth present and fully erupted from first molar to first molar, no interproximal caries or restorations and no abnormal tooth sizes or shapes. Descriptive statistics are provided. Sex differences in the means and comparisons with the means from other population were evaluated using t-tests. Results revealed no statistically significant difference in mesiodistal crown dimensions between the sexes and no left to right side tooth size discrepancy in the sample. The study provides normative data on the mesiodistal crown dimensions of Nigerian subjects. Compared to African Americans, crown dimensions tended to be smaller in these Nigerians, especially in males.

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