Diabetics - Healthy Gums Will Lower Your Blood Sugar

In spite of my previous posts, many people don’t connect infected gums (periodontitis) with serious conditions, such as coronary artery disease, cancer, erectile dysfunction, and dementia.  A Cochrane Review, posted this month, calls attention to the relationship between chronic inflammation and type 2 diabetes.  It shows that periodontal disease and glycemic control go hand in hand. 

As usual for Cochrane Reviews, medical publications and electronic databases were searched for controlled clinical studies of the management of type 1 or type 2 diabetics with periodontitis.  Seven studies met the criteria set by the researchers, and 3 had results that could be pooled for meta-analysis; the combined total of patients was 244.

Treatments of periodontitis used included mechanical therapy (scaling and root planing), antibiotics, and oral hygiene.  There were not enough type 1 diabetics to provide meaningful results.  However, for type 2 patients, there was an average 0.4% reduction in HbA1c levels for those patients who had scaling/root planing. 

Although the data are meager, they suggest there is a small but significant improvement in blood sugar control following treatment of gum disease in people with type 2 diabetes; the treatment offering the best results is mechanical rather than medicinal. Good gum hygiene has other benefits – chiefly with regard to the cardiovascular system – so that it’s well worth making part of your daily routine.