[acb-diabetics] from"Diabetes In Control"

[Patricia LaFrance-Wolf]

This article originally posted 

21 December, 2009

 and appeared in  

Issue 501

More than 90% of People with Gum Disease Are at Risk for Diabetes

An overwhelming majority of people who have periodontal (gum) disease are
also at high risk for diabetes and should be screened for diabetes, a New
York

University nursing-dental research team has found. 

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This article originally posted 21 December, 2009 and appeared in  

Issue 501

 

More than 90% of People with Gum Disease Are at Risk for Diabetes

 

An overwhelming majority of people who have periodontal (gum) disease are
also at high risk for diabetes and should be screened for diabetes, a New
York

University nursing-dental research team has found.

 

Publisher's Note: I have done education in periodontists offices, educating
the dentists and hygienists on how to screen for diabetes using a blood
glucose

monitor or an A1c test. If you are interested in learning more, please email
me at 

publisher at diabetesincontrol.com.

 

Researchers also determined that half of those at risk had seen a dentist in
the previous year, concluded that dentists should consider offering diabetes

screenings in their offices, and described practical approaches to
conducting diabetes screenings in dental offices.

 

The study, led by Dr. Shiela Strauss, Associate Professor of Nursing and
Co-Director of the Statistics and Data Management Core for NYU's Colleges of
Dentistry

and Nursing, examined data from 2,923 adult participants in the 2003-2004
National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey who had not been diagnosed
with

diabetes. The survey, conducted by the National Center for Health Statistics
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, was designed to assess

the health and nutritional status of adults and children in the United
States.

 

Using guidelines established by the American Diabetes Association, Dr.
Strauss determined that 93 percent of subjects who had periodontal disease,
compared

to 63 percent of those without the disease, were considered to be at high
risk for diabetes and should be screened for diabetes. The guidelines
recommend

diabetes screening for people at least 45 years of age with a body mass
index (a comparative measure of weight and height) of 25 or more, as well as
for

those under 45 years of age with a BMI of 25 or more who also have at least
one additional diabetes risk factor. In Dr. Strauss's study, two of those
additional

risk factors -- high blood pressure and a first-degree relative (a parent or
sibling) with diabetes -- were reported in a significantly greater number

of subjects with periodontal disease than in subjects without the disease.
Dr. Strauss's findings, published today in the online edition of the Journal

of Public Health Dentistry, add to a growing body of evidence linking
periodontal infections to an increased risk for diabetes.

 

Dr. Strauss also examined how often those with gum disease and a risk for
diabetes visit a dentist, finding that three in five reported a dental visit
in

the past two years; half in the past year; and a third in the past six
months.

 

"In light of these findings, the dental visit could be a useful opportunity
to conduct an initial diabetes screening -- an important first step in
identifying

those patients who need follow-up testing to diagnose the disease."

 

"It's been estimated that 5.7 million Americans with diabetes were
undiagnosed in 2007," Dr. Strauss added, "with the number expected to
increase dramatically

in coming years. The issue of undiagnosed diabetes is especially critical
because early treatment and secondary prevention efforts may help to prevent

or delay the long-term complications of diabetes that are responsible for
reduced quality of life and increased levels of mortality among these
patients.

Thus, there is a critical need to increase opportunities for diabetes
screening and early diabetes detection."

 

Dr. Strauss said that dentists could screen patients for diabetes by
evaluating them for risk factors such as being overweight; belonging to a
high-risk

ethnic group (African-American, Latino, Native American, Asian-American, or
Pacific Islander); having high cholesterol; high blood pressure; a
first-degree

relative with diabetes; or gestational diabetes mellitus; or having given
birth to a baby weighing more than nine pounds.

 

Alternatively, dentists could use a glucometer -- a diagnostic instrument
for measuring blood glucose -- to analyze finger-stick blood samples, or use
the

glucometer to evaluate blood samples taken from pockets of inflammation in
the gums.

 

"The oral blood sample would arguably be more acceptable to dentists because
providers and patients anticipate oral intervention in the dental office,"

Dr. Strauss noted. In an earlier study involving 46 subjects with
periodontal disease published in June 2009 by the Journal of Periodontology,
an NYU nursing-dental

research team led by Dr. Strauss determined that the glucometer can provide
reliable glucose-level readings for blood samples drawn from deep pockets of

gum inflammation, and that those readings were highly correlated with
glucometer readings for finger-stick blood samples.

 

Journal of Public Health Dentistry on-line Dec, 2009 

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