Lessons learned in engaging and retaining PLWHA in oral health care

If we build it, will they come?

And if they come, will they stay?

One focus of the SPNS demonstration project was to understand and address other barriers to care and identify what other interventions might be necessary to bring people with HIV into dental care and keep them in care. This paper describes the lessons learned about outreach and retention in oral health services over the first two years of this initiative.

Information for this report was obtained from dentists, program directors and dental case managers over a period of two years from 2007-2009. This period coincided with the start-up of the demonstration projects.