Dental caries in HIV-infected children.

Although AIDS was described as a new and distinct diseaseI in 1981, there have been few reports of the oral manifestations of the disease in children. 2-4 Early reports described soft tissue lesions but provided little information in regard to dental caries. In recent years, as greater numbers of children with AIDS have been examined, the problem of extensive dental caries has been identified. This investigation, which is part of a larger study, 5 reports the caries prevalence in a group of 55 HIV-infected pediatric patients, located in Newark, New Jersey, a nonfluoridated community.