Dental diseases in diabetes

Aim: to study periodontal disease in diabetes mellitus (dm) patients which is often a neglected complication. methods: one hundred diabetic patients were included in the study. they were asked 6 questions each about dental health including bleeding gums,loose or missing teeth,pain and bad breath. results: the age ranged from 18 to 85 years. 77 had dental disease while 23 had no dental symptom. 12,34,15 and 15 patients had 1,2 3 and 4 symptoms respectively while 1 patient had all 6 symptoms. out of 23 patients who had no symptoms 11(47.8%) were controlled and in symptomatic group 65(84.4%) patients had uncontrolled diabetes,p value 0.06. in addition,out of asymptomatic patients 19(82%) had diabetes of less than 5 yr duration,whereas in symptomatic patients 19(25%) had diabetes of more than 10 yrs duration,p-value 0.03. conclusion: dental diseases are an important complication of uncontrolled diabetes and increase with the duration of disease.