DENTISTS may be the first to detect untreated diabetes.
The relationship between diabetes and gum disease is one of the best-studied connections between an underlying medical condition and its oral manifestation, says Dr. Rajesh V. Lalla, UConn a Professor and Associate Dean for Research at the University of Connecticut (UConn) School of Dental Medicine.
The symptoms of common and preventable gum disease are red, swollen and bleeding gums. A dentist who suspects that diabetes is behind the symptoms may test a patient’s blood glucose level to screen them for untreated type 1 or type 2 diabetes.
In 2018, general dentistry residents at UConn Health began a pilot study to assess the feasibility and impact of implementing a diabetes screening protocol in UConn’s dental clinics. Patients deemed at risk were offered testing that measures average blood glucose levels over a three-month period.
Nearly 60 percent of patients tested were found to be in the pre-diabetic range and received referral to primary care for diagnosis and treatment. Early intervention with prediabetic patients has been shown to cut the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in half.
The study reflected how dentists and medical doctors are getting closer in their interprofessional relationships.
This is why education and research at the UConn School of Dental Medicine is part of a growing trend to better prepare every member of the health care team to treat the overall health of the patient as part of an interdisciplinary collaboration.
In the first 16 months of dental and medical school at UConn Health, dental and medical students share biomedical sciences curriculum.
“The curriculum is very special,” says Dr. Douglas Peterson, Professor of Oral Medicine and a lead faculty member for the interprofessional curriculum.
“It capitalizes upon high quality basic and clinical science, and positions students and faculty from UConn professional schools to continue to learn how best to treat a medically complex patient based upon the highest quality scientific evidence.”
The concept of interprofessional health care is taught in the clinics and the classrooms of the School of Dental Medicine.
Students are taught that interprofessional health care requires the entire health care team – including but not limited to dentists, physicians, nurses, pharmacists and social workers – to collaborate to provide safe and effective treatment.
Dental students are trained to notice the ways certain systemic diseases manifest in the mouth, UConn said in a press statement.
It said dentists are often the first line of defense, able to perform testing to either rule out the suspected underlying cause or refer patients to their physicians for further evaluation and treatment when needed.
“From the dental medicine perspective, our faculty works with dental students in lectures, seminars, and clinical settings throughout the four year curriculum to continually highlight the scientific and clinical relationships between oral and systemic health and disease,” says Dr. Peterson.
“The interface between oral health and disease and systemic health and disease is centrally important. We teach the dental and medical students that, if we detect an oral disorder for which the cause cannot be completely attributed to oral factors, we then need to think about the possibility of a systemic relationship to the oral condition.”
Dr. Peterson says it is important to be evaluated by a dental professional on a regular basis. If a potentially serious mouth condition is developing, early diagnosis and treatment is important, he says.
“Our dental students graduate from UConn knowing that considering the patient’s overall health – rather than just what’s going on in their mouth – could make a big difference in a patient’s health and well-being.”
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Dr. Joseph D. Lim is the former Associate Dean of the UE College of Dentistry, former Dean of the College of Dentistry, National University, past president and honorary fellow of the Asian Oral Implant Academy, and honorary fellow of the Japan College of Oral Implantologists. Honorary Life Member of Thai Association of Dental Implantology. For questions on dental health, e-mail or text 0917-8591515./PN
