Another pandemic: Diabetes! Why should the dental team bother?

The diabetes – periodontitis relationship is known among the dental community since quite some years ago and we should routinely inform our diabetic patients about the importance of proper periodontal treatment and healthy periodontium in regards with their diabetic status. Efficient periodontitis treatment in diabetic patients has shown a significant additive effect in lowering HbA1c blood levels, accompanied by improved vascular and kidney function, and reduced systemic inflammation (D´Áiuto et al., 2018). This lecture will focus on: key facts about periodontitis and diabetes and their mutual relationship, how to identify those at risk, screening for perio and for diabetes in the dental office, how to give personalized advice to perio and diabetes patients and key issues of patient treatment.

Periodontal disease and diabetes share some life-style risk factors, like smoking, and there is a two-way relationship: patients with uncontrolled diabetes have a 3-fold higher risk to develop advanced periodontitis, while untreated periodontitis further dysregulates glycemic balance.