Oral health and its importance for diabetics

A dental health expert has revealed the well-established link between diabetes and gum disease, stressing the importance of good oral health care and how it can lead to dramatic results.

“Diabetes was the first disease associated with gum disease,” said Dr. Alp Kantarci. “In the 1990s, studies showed that if you have diabetes, regardless of the type, you will have bleeding gums. So, oral health or gum disease is one of the main symptoms of diabetes.”

He explained: “Therefore, there are studies that treated gum disease and were able to reduce diabetes. Therefore, treating gum disease in a patient with diabetes can contribute to reducing blood sugar and hemoglobin levels, which provides assistance to doctors in treating diabetes.”

“So you’re addressing two things,” Kantarsi added. “One, you’re reducing the bacterial load by addressing the gum disease, and two, you’re reducing the inflammatory burden on your body by addressing the gum disease. So the inflammatory burden that you have is one of the reasons why your diabetes is getting worse, especially your blood sugar, your hemoglobin levels, and your response to diabetes treatments or diabetes medications and so on is going to be completely impaired.”

He concluded that dentists can treat teeth, gums, and the oral cavity, as well as help other doctors better treat diabetic patients.