Diabetes Mellitus and Periodontal Disease: A New Perspective

Abstract

First recorded in 1928, people living with diabetes mellitus (DM) are at a three to four times higher risk of developing periodontal disease (PD) than non-diabetics; for those who smoke this risk increases up to ten times. However, many doctors are unaware of this. DM and PD are bidirectionally linked, the one affecting the other and vice versa, although the mechanism is not fully understood and may be linked to chronic infection. PD has an adverse effect on glycaemic control. That improves when periodontitis is successfully treated. Doctors should consider PD when their patients have persistently high glycated haemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, and dentists should consider diabetes or pre-diabetes when they have patients with unstable or progressive periodontitis. Doctors, dentists, and their teams need to share results. A traffic light system of red, amber and green for both medical and dental risks is proposed, and a pro forma designed, so that diabetics themselves can share them with their professional advisors until such times as there are reliable methods of interprofessional communication and a paradigm shift in working practices is achieved. Dentists need to find ways to teach their medical colleagues about the basics of PD, update their medical records, and understand more about medical risks. More research is required.