HIV stigma may prevent people from obtaining a timely diagnosis and engaging in life-saving care. It may also prevent those who are HIV infected from seeking health and education resources, particularly if they are from marginalized communities. We inductively explored the roots of stigma and its impact on health services and resource seeking as experienced by HIV-infected members of marginalized communities in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, using a community-based participatory research framework. Five peer-facilitated focus groups were conducted with 33 Aboriginal, Latino, Asian, and African participants. Thematic analysis of the experiences revealed four dominant themes: beginnings of stigma, tensions related to disclosure, experiences of service seeking, and beyond HIV stigma and discrimination. Persons living with HIV from Aboriginal and refugee communities continue to experience disproportionate rates of stigma and discrimination. Fear remains a prime obstacle influencing these groups' abilities and willingness to access care in various settings.

Objectives To identify the predisposing, enabling, and need factors of the Andersen and Newman (A&N) model and their associations with the pattern of dental service utilization in a sample of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in British Columbia. Methods Participants responded anonymously to a 40‐item online questionnaire to explore the patterns of dental service utilization. Following the descriptive statistics, the associations between A&N model factors and main outcome variables (having a dental visit in the last year and reasons for the dental visit) were evaluated using simple and multiple logistic regression analyses. Results Out of 600 potential PLHIV participants, 210 responded to the survey and 186 met the inclusion criteria. The experience of being discriminated against by dental professionals (P = 0.005), having dental anxiety (P < 0.001), not having dental insurance (P = 0.001), and having living condition difficulties (P = 0.004) were significantly associated with nonemergency dental visits. In multiple logistic regression analysis, dental anxiety (OR = 0.1; 95 percent CI 0.0; 0.4), having a regular dentist (OR = 3.7; 95 percent CI 1.1; 12.6), and visiting a dental office in the last year (OR = 21.6; 95 percent CI 6.1; 76.5) were the strongest predictors of dental service utilization in this study. Conclusions Several predisposing, enabling, and need factors from the A&N model were associated with dental service utilization by PLHIV. In addition to various psychosocial barriers, a significant number of respondents reported experiencing stigma and discrimination from their oral care providers.

Despite the efforts that have been made in dental education and clinical practice to adopt the evidence-informed, risk-based, nonsurgical caries management approach, the surgical treatment approach continues to prevail. There is an urgent need to understand resistance to such a paradigm shift and establish a coordinated evidence-based Cariology teaching approach in Canadian dental schools so trainees are equipped to implement caries management in their practice. To work towards this goal, a two-day interinstitutional symposium was organized in Montreal, QC, bringing together clinical and research experts in cariology and dental education from all 10 Canadian dental schools to develop a consensus on an evidence-informed Core Cariology Curriculum, and strategies for its implementation. Through consensus, participants produced the Core Cariology Curriculum for Canadian dental schools and articulated the challenges and solutions for its implementation. Future work will include working collaboratively on the curriculum integration and evaluation.

Objectives To identify associations of Andersen and Newman's (A&N) predisposing, enabling, and need factors with self‐reported oral health status and self‐reported unmet dental treatment needs in a sample of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in British Columbia (BC), Canada. Methods Participants responded anonymously to a 41‐item online questionnaire with the following inclusion criteria: a) be at least 19 years old; b) self‐identify as HIV‐positive; c) be able to provide consent and be willing to voluntarily participate in the study; d) be residing in British Columbia; and e) be able to proficiently respond to the questions in English. Following the descriptive statistics, associations between A&N model factors and the main outcome variables (self‐reported oral health status and self‐reported dental treatment needs) were evaluated using bivariate inferential analyses. Results A total of 186 participants met the inclusion criteria. Approximately 40% (n = 74) of participants rated the health of their mouth as fair/poor and more than half (n = 112; 60.2%) reported having bleeding gums, tooth decay or tooth sensitivity. The bivariate analysis for the self‐reported oral status as the outcome variable showed “having fair/poor general health” (P = 0.001), “unemployment” (P = 0.019), “avoiding dental treatment due to cost” (P = 0.005), and “not visiting a dental professional within the last year” (P < 0.001) as the strongest predictors. For the second outcome variable unmet dental treatment needs, the strongest predictors were “experience of being discriminated by dental professionals” (P = 0.001), “having fair/poor general health” (P = 0.006), and “suffering from past and current medical conditions due to HIV” (P < 0.001). Conclusions Several predisposing, enabling and need factors from the A&N model were associated with self‐reported oral health status and unmet dental treatment needs of PLHIV. Results from this study highlight the needs of improving access to affordable dental care to address the unmet oral health needs of PLHIV.