Routine dental checks can diagnose pre-diabetes
Researchers at Columbia University have revealed that routine dental checks can be an important means of diagnosing pre-diabetes, early symptoms of type 2 diabetes, an increasingly prevalent disease in the USA.
The study, which was published recently in the Journal of Dental Research at Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, is also supported by the Jeffrey Epstein VI Foundation and suggests that a straight-forward dental examination can help to spot the early warning signs of type 2 diabetes.
The research is important because if spotted and treated early, diabetes can be prevented; pre-diabetes, which is characterised by specific symptoms which can be spotted by doctors and dentists, can be treated before it develops into full-blown type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes is largely associated with diet and body weight; the disease, in tandem with obesity and obesity-related illnesses, is becoming increasingly common in the USA and it is estimated that 25.8 million people in America have diabetes, with between 90 and 95 percent of cases type 2, rather than type 1 diabetes, which cannot be prevented and is not linked to poor diet.
Researchers found that two basic dental tests, including the number of missing teeth and the percentage of periodontal pockets, pockets which form between the teeth and the gums, can be used to identify diabetes and pre-diabetes in patients who have not yet been diagnosed.
Dr Ira Lamster, Dean of Columbia University College of Dental Medicine, said that periodontal disease is an indicator of pre-diabetes and diabetes and as 70 percent of adults attend a check-u once a year, dentists are in an ideal position to help with the diagnosis of diabetes; the earlier the diagnosis, the quicker lifestyle changes can be made and treatments administered.
