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At Lutheran Family Health Centers in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, on top of getting a regular cleaning, patients heading to the dental clinic can now opt for a rapid HIV test on a routine visit.

Dentists and staff involved say they are launching the program to boost screening efforts and further chip away at the stigma associated with getting tested.

“This is a grant initiative,” says Dr. Calix Ramos of Lutheran Family Health Centers. “And we saw the opportunity to increase and better the quality of life by empowering the patient, by knowing the HIV status, and number two, to end the stigma around HIV disease.”

The Centers for Disease Control recommends all individuals between ages 13 and 65 know their status, and dentists plan to offer rapid tests to all patients within that age group. They say offering HIV screening goes in keeping with not only looking at a patient's oral health, but being part of a gateway for treating the whole body and catching health problems that might otherwise go un-checked.

“Nowadays, I don't see what I used to see in the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s,” says Ramos. “Like I would say, I could detect HIV immediately on an oral lesion. It still happens, but in New York or in the United States, due to new advances in medication, it's not that kind of crisis anymore. It's about how do we get them into care, how do we include them in chronic care.”

Staff members say a lot of their patients may see the dentist more frequently than their regular doctor, which is another reason why this program could have a major impact.

“The population that comes in may or may not have a primary medical provider. Even if they do that provider might not necessarily offer an HIV test,” says Dana Cermagliaro of LFHC. “In the dental clinic, we can kind of present people with the option of not only getting tested, but also providing linkage to care, which we have here, education, everything they need. So it's a great opportunity to get more people tested.”

Through community outreach last year, the hospital offered more than 4,500 rapid tests in Brooklyn. With the new program, they now hope to provide many more tests.