Fearful Patients Of Dentist With Aids Flock For Hiv Tests

WELLINGTON, Fla. - The woman said she has been a good mother, a careful mother.

She has poured her life into her children. Her older daughter, 15, is a nationally ranked athlete. Her 12-year-old is gifted with a brilliant mind.

Now - all her hopes for her daughters threatened - the woman is angry and bewildered.

Like hundreds of other parents in this affluent suburb of West Palm Beach, the woman fears that the dentist who put braces on her children's teeth also may have given them AIDS.

"You spend your whole life trying to make everything perfect for your children," she said. "You want to get them beautiful teeth to go along with their beautiful faces.

"It is a mother's nightmare."

On Monday, Wellington orthodontist Robert Engel, 37, closed his practice and revealed in a letter to his patients that he has AIDS.

Health officials said yesterday they believe a child's chance of being exposed to the AIDS virus during orthodontic work is slim, but urged patients to seek counseling and testing.

"For my own peace of mind, if it was my kid, I'd go ahead and get counseled and tested," said Dr. James Howell, acting administrator of the state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) district that includes Palm Beach County.

By yesterday, the health department had scheduled 300 HIV tests of Engel's patients at Wellington Regional Medical Center, said Dr. Jean Malecki, medical director of the Palm Beach County Public Health Unit. A state hotline with five phone lines was busy all day.

Eighty-two patients were tested yesterday and test results are expected within three to four days, said Cam Freedlund, an HRS spokeswoman.

Several parents showed up at Engel's office in Wellington to request their children's medical records and a copy of the letter Engel mailed to about 800 people.

"We never got the letter," said Geri Auerbach, a Wellington resident. "My daughter heard it from a friend who called her. She was very scared."

Auerbach said she is confident Engel used precautions in his practice.

"He never went in without a mask and gloves," she said. "Ninety percent of the time he never touched my daughter - he had an assistant do the work."

"My heart goes out to him - he's super," said Wendy Thomas, whose 13-year-old son had been a patient of Engel's for seven months.

"But I'll never be completely at ease. My son had four teeth pulled before the braces were put on and that is my biggest concern because (my son had) open sores," Thomas said.

Some at Engel's office were angry he didn't tell them he was diagnosed as carrying the AIDS virus in 1988.

"I really think because of his profession, he should have told us," said Joni Temple, whose 9-year-old son's last appointment with Engel was about a month ago.

"I really don't feel like there's anything to worry about," she said, "But just the thought that he's been touched by someone with the disease is kind of scary."

Victims can test positive for HIV (human immunodeficiency virus) years before they develop full-blown AIDS.

Currently, Florida law requires all health-care professionals to report full-blown AIDS, but does not mandate reporting of HIV-positive diagnoses. Gov. Lawton Chiles announced this week he would propose legislation that would require health-care workers to report their HIV status to the state and all physicians to report patients who test positive for the HIV virus.

The federal Centers for Disease Control estimates that 5,815 health-care workers, including 156 dentists, have AIDS.

Many of the parents interviewed at Engel's office refused to give their names, worried that their families would be stigmatized by any association with AIDS.

"Whatever happens here could follow these children around for a long time," said the woman whose two daughters were Engel's patients.

Although her 15-year-old has taken the news well, the woman said, the younger one is angry.

"She is very mad at me for not switching orthodontists when I suspected he was gay. Maybe she was right. Maybe I did fail.

"But I thought you had to live in Belle Glade to be in a high-risk area," she said, referring to the impoverished Palm Beach County town that has the highest incidence of AIDS in the country.

"This is Wellington. I thought we were protected here."

Wellington, a planned community of 32,000, does seem an odd place for an AIDS scare.

The town appears to promise an orderly and sheltered life.

Real-estate agents brag that Wellington has the best elementary, middle and high schools in Palm Beach County and all but promise high SAT scores.

The town's main road, Forest Hill Boulevard, curves gently past neatly trimmed hedges, huge orange trees andthe Palm Beach Polo and Country Club where Prince Charles likes to play polo when he visits.

Patricia Harrington, who is coordinating the counseling for HRS, said some people are facing the reality of AIDS for the first time.

"The kids and the parents seemed pretty well informed," Harrington said, "but it was just general information. Now they want specific information, very specific.

"They want to know how they are at risk. It becomes very emotional."

Glenda Carver and her daughter Adrienne, 15, said their first thought was for Engel.

"I couldn't believe it," said Adrienne, who still wears the braces Engel put on. "I felt so bad for him."

"He was a really nice guy," her mother agreed.

But even parents who support him say he should have told them years ago that he carried the AIDS virus.

Outside Engel's office, a blond woman nervously rubbed the hair of a tiny troll on her keychain.

She was worried that her 8-year-old daughter, who has been a patient of Engel's for two years, will find out that the orthodontist has AIDS.

So far, she had hidden the newspaper from the girl and sent her out of the room when the TV news was on.

And when she takes her in for the AIDS test?

"I'm going to tell her it's just routine," the woman said.

She knows it is silly, but the mother feels guilty about taking her daughter to Engel for spacers.

"I was referred to him. This is what my dentist said I should do. She's a very beautiful girl, and I wouldn't want her to be snaggle-toothed."

The woman turned her face away from a television camera.

"I don't know if I will ever take her to get her teeth done again," she said in a quavering voice. "Ever."

-- Material from the Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel was added to this report.