Diabetes May Be Predicted By Dentists

According to a new study it seems that dentists may be able to tell whether a person is going to develop diabetes or not

Diabetes is a chronic illness and there are millions of people diagnosed with it each year, all around the world.

According to a new study, it seems that dentists may determine whether or not a person is going to have diabetes. According to the group of researchers at the Columbia University College of Dental Medicine in New York City, who were involved in the study, it seems that routine check ups at the dentist’s may help them predict if a person is going to develop diabetes or not. From what the study’s senior author, Dr. Ira Lamster said, it seems that about 70 percent of the United States of America adults see their dentists once a year and that periodontal disease is a very early complication which may appear due to diabetes. “Prior research focused on identification strategies relevant to medical settings. Oral healthcare settings have not been evaluated before, nor have the contributions of oral findings ever been tested prospectively.”

What the researchers did for the study was to recruit about 600 people who went to the dentist who had not been discovered with diabetes or pre-diabetes ever in their life. From that 600 people, about 530 reported that they had risk factors for diabetes, such as obesity and high blood pressure. All the patients were then asked to regularly go to the dentist for a routine check up and they also had to take some blood tests in order to determine whether they were prone to develop diabetes or not. The researchers discovered that diabetes could be predicted by the number of missing teeth or by the percentage of deep periodontal pockets.

The study provides a very simple way of identifying who is going to suffer from diabetes, given that 1 in 2 Americans remain undiagnosed even if they suffer from type 2 diabetes and most Americans with pre-diabetes are at high risk of developing type 2 diabetes and other things such as heart attacks, strokes and many other. Throughout time, scientists and doctors alike tried to identify people with diabetes early, in order to help them control their condition better, as type 2 diabetes can complicate the lifestyle of people very much and also their health. Given that type 2 diabetes can raise many complications such as heart attacks, strokes and even amputations, this new study provides great insight into how to tell whether a person is going to develop diabetes or not. Early recognition of the condition can be very effective in what concerns keeping the disease under control, by leading a healthy lifestyle.11