Oral health screening holds potential for diabetes prevention

Basic indicators of oral health appear to be associated with the risk of developing diabetes, according to a study, suggesting the importance of oral health screening for preventing diabetes.

For the study, researchers linked data from the 45 and Up Study in Australia to administrative health records. The study population consisted of 213,389 men and women who were ≥45 years of age and had no diabetes at baseline.

All participants provided details on their oral health by completing questionnaires. Incident diabetes cases were established based on self-report in follow-up questionnaires, linked data on medical and pharmaceutical claims, and hospitalization data. Multivariable cox proportional hazards models were used to estimate the association between oral health and incident diabetes.

Over 2,232,215 person-years of follow-up, a total of 20,487 (9.6 percent) participants received a diagnosis of diabetes. The risk of diabetes was higher among participants with 10–19 teeth (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR] 1.12, 95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.08–1.17), those with 1–9 teeth (aHR, 1.20, 95 percent CI, 1.14–1.26), and those with no teeth (aHR, 1.15, 95 percent CI, 1.09–1.21) as compared with those who had ≥20 teeth.

A risk increase was also observed among participants with fair or poor teeth and gums relative to those with excellent/very good teeth and gums (aHR, 1.07, 95 percent CI, 1.03–1.12 and aHR, 1.13, 95 percent CI, 1.07–1.20, respectively).

The associations were pronounced among younger (45–59 years) and nonobese participants, and the strength of the estimates was similar to that of other lifestyle risk factors.

The findings indicate that oral health measures may be used to screen for individuals at risk of diabetes.