Impact of diabetes mellitus and other systemic diseases on oral health and tooth mortality

Abstract

ABSTRACT Introduction: Poor oral health in systemically diseased individuals besides worsening the glycaemic status also has functional, social consequences such as masticatory inefficiency and stigmatized social participation, respectively. Periodontal problems remain one of the most common reasons for tooth mortality along with tooth decay and trauma. Methodology: The study was conducted in the outpatient department of teaching dental institution among the individuals visiting the institution. Persons with systemic illness were included in the study. In the preliminary step, interviews were conducted among the study participants regarding health status followed by an oral health examination. The oral health examination included recording of community periodontal index and dentition status. Data were collected and statistical analyses were performed. Chi-square test, one-way ANOVA and Bonferroni post-hoc tests were used to analyze the data. Results: Patients with diabetes showed the highest (3.56 ± 2.98) number of missing teeth, followed by other systemic diseases (2.78 ± 2.74), and the patients who were not having any systemic diseases (1.81 ± 1.54). This distinction was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.001), and Bonferroni post-hoc shows statistical significance (P < 0.05) in group-wise comparisons. The number of teeth last due to caries among diabetics was higher (20.8%) when compared to nondiabetic (12.2%), and the most tooth loss due to periodontitis was also observed within the patients with diabetes (21%) when compared to patients with other systemic diseases (12%), which is statistically significant (P = 0.001). Conclusion: The current study revealed tooth loss is more common in the patients who have systemic diseases when compared to the patients who do not have any systemic diseases, while dental caries and periodontal problems are the principle causes of tooth mortality.