NATION IN BRIEF : CONNECTICUT : Risk Low That Dentist Passed On HIV Virus

The patients of a Hartford, Conn.-area orthodontist who died of AIDS in 1989 do not have to be tested for the disease, state health officials said. The risk that the dentist transmitted the HIV virus to his patients is “extraordinarily low,” said Dr. Peter Galbraith of the state’s Department of Health Services at a press conference. Galbraith said that the orthodontist was very conscientious about sterilizing instruments, wearing gloves and taking other infection-control precautions and that orthodontic procedures are less risky than general dentistry.