ORIGINAL RESEARCH M ATERIALS AND M ETHODS A cross-sectional pilot study was conducted in the period between July and August 2020, among registered dentists. Data were collected using an online auto-administrated questionnaire. We considered the participation of dentists as an informed consent. Participants also confirmed that all provided data related to the questionnaire I NTRODUCTION Therapeutic procedures in dentistry frequently involve blood and saliva that may contain a variety of blood-borne pathogens and microorganisms such as HIV, hepatitis viruses, and the possibility of infection during dental care is not uncommon. According to World Health Organization (WHO), there was 4,500 people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in Tunisia in 2020. Although the prevalence is considered low (less than 0.1), the number of PLWHA is increasing rapidly. Dentists may play a role in the infection’s prevention and treatment. They should not refuse to treat a patient solely based on their HIV-positive status. 1 They should have an adequate knowledge about this disease, its oral manifestations, the routes of transmission and the basic principles of prevention in order to ensure his safety and that of his staff and patients. Knowing the HIV status of a patient allow the dentists to provide more comprehensive care as HIV significantly impacts on oral health. 2 They also should hold positive attitudes and practices and provide adapted dental care to PLWHA without discrimination or stigmatization. This will contribute to improve the life quality of these patients and prevent the disease spread. Despite of the professional and ethical responsibility, 3 discrimination, and stigmatization among healthcare workers exist and some dentists may be hesitant to treat HIV patients for many reasons. Unwillingness to treat PLWHA has been associated with inadequate knowledge of disease process, transmission, diagnosis, and treatment of these patients. 1 To the finest knowledge of the authors, data about dentists’ knowledge, attitudes, and practices about HIV infection are not available in our country. This study aimed to describe knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Tunisian dentists toward PLWHA. 1 University of Monastir, Faculty of Pharmacy, Laboratory of Medical and Molecular Parasitology-Mycology, LR12ES08, 5019, Monastir, Tunisia; Unit of Oral Microbiology, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Monastir, Tunisia 2 University of Monastir, Faculty of Dental Medicine, Oral Health and Oro-Facial Rehabilitation Laboratory LR12ES11, 5019, Monastir, Tunisia; Department of Periodontology, University of Dental Clinic of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia 3 Department of Oral Medicine and Oral Surgery, University of Dental Clinic of Monastir, Monastir, Tunisia 4 Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, Fattouma Bourguiba Hospital Teaching Center, Monastir, Tunisia Corresponding Author: Amira Besbes, University of Monastir, Faculty of Pharmacy, Laboratory of Medical and Molecular Parasitology- Mycology, LR12ES08, 5019, Monastir, Tunisia; Unit of Oral Microbiology, Faculty of Dental Medicine, University of Monastir, Tunisia, Phone: +21696425691, e-mail: besbesemira@gmail.com How to cite this article: Besbes A, Nasri W, Nafti R, et al. Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices about HIV: A Pilot Study among Tunisian Dentists. World J Dent 2022;13(2):155–160. Source of support: Nil Conflict of interest: None Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices about HIV: A Pilot Study among Tunisian Dentists Amira Besbes 1 , Wafa Nasri 2 , Rabaa Nafti 3 , Cyrine Bennasrallah 4 A BSTRACT Aim and objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate knowledge, attitudes, and practices of Tunisian dentists about HIV/AIDS. Materials and methods: This cross-sectional pilot study was carried out on Tunisian dentists using an online survey. The questionnaire included 34 questions investigating knowledge, attitudes, and practices of the participants. Knowledge attitudes and practices were assessed according to three different scales. Results: A total of 234 dentists participated in the study. This study showed that 33% of the respondents demonstrated sufficient level of knowledge and 36% of them demonstrated good level. About 90% of them showed excellent practices. In addition, 54% of the participants had neutral attitudes and 42% had positive attitudes towards people living with HIV/AIDS. A significant negative correlation between age and knowledge score was found (p = 0.001). A significant association between knowledge score and the period experience less than 5 years (p = 0.022) was found. Conclusion: Tunisian dentists had good knowledge and adequate practices about HIV. About a half of the participants expressed hesitation in treating patients with HIV/AIDS. Dental and therapeutic continued education programs are needed to improve their attitudes. Clinical significance: Good knowledge, attitudes, and practices about HIV in the dental setting allows to ensure an adequate dental care for people living with HIV/AIDS and to enhance infection control and safety for both patients and dental staff. Keywords: Attitudes, Dentists, HIV, Knowledge, Practices, Questionnaire. World Journal of Dentistry (2022): 10.5005/jp-journals-10015-1919 © The Author(s). 2022 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons. org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and non-commercial reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.