Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: The mouth is said to be the body’s mirror. Diabetes can be associated with the development of various types of disorders within the oral cavity of which periodontal disease is about the commonest and may indeed be the first manifestation of diabetes.

Aim: To evaluate the oral health of individuals with diabetes at Federal Medical Centre, Abeokuta, Nigeria.

Methodology: Descriptive study carried out between January and December 2014. The findings during the annual dental examination in each patient with diabetes were documented alongside their HbA1c levels. The World Health Organization Community Periodontal Index was used to assess the periodontal health status.

Results: 103 DM patients comprising of 45 males (43.6%) and 58 females (56.4%) participated in the study. Age ranged between 18 and 89 years with mean age of 57.14±13.06 years. Duration of diabetes was between 1 month and 30 years with a mean duration of 6 years while mean HbA1c was 66.1 mmol/mol with a range of 22.4–130.6 mmol/mol. 15.5% had healthy periodontium while 84.5% had various periodontal disorders. 66% of those with periodontal disease had HbA1c >53 mmol/mol. 56.3% had mild gingivitis, 40.8% had moderate gingivitis while 2.9% had severe gingivitis. Of these, only 30.1% had HbA1c >53 mmol/mol. 39.8% had missing teeth; 29.1% had between one and four teeth missing, while 10.7% had between five and 15 teeth missing. There was significant association between diabetes duration and missing teeth, P=0.002.

Discussion: Oral lesions in diabetes are associated with glycaemic control and disease duration. There was a strong association between duration of diabetes and number of missing teeth in this study.

Conclusion: Good oral health is now one of the accepted strategies in achieving glycaemic control in diabetes. Annual oral examinations are therefore of great value.