The idea of teaming up dentistry with medical advice has come from Dr. Saleh Aldasouqi, head of Michigan State University’s Division of Endocrinology, and Dr. Susan Maples, a leading innovator in U.S. dentistry and an author.
But why connect advice and testing for obesity with dentistry? The answer is due to a connection, and Dr. Maples in particular has been reporting on and voicing concerns about the connection between oral and systemic health. In particular, research suggests a two-way relationship between gum disease and high blood sugar levels.
The test that the two academics have constructed takes the form of a questionnaire, based on 14 telling questions which probe the participant’s lifestyle. The questions forgo the need for weighing, blood tests or conducting the disputed body mass index (BMI) calculations.
The questionnaire has been assessed against empirical measurements. Here 500 dental patients, with no prior history of diabetes mellitus (type 2 diabetes) and or pre-diabetes (the build-up physiological condition prior to diabetes forming), completed the questionnaire. The questionnaire responses were then compared with blood finger prick tests. The blood tests assessed the sugar levels in the subject’s haemoglobin (known as A1c.)
The analysis of the data, correlated with the questionnaires, revealed that the questionnaires were an accurate indicator of either the subject having diabetes or being in a condition where diabetes was likely in the near future.
In statement, Dr. Aldasouqi said: “The results were astonishing. About 19 percent of those patients had prediabetes and they didn’t know it.”
The idea of using the questionnaire in a dental practice, is that a dentist can then give advice to patients and help patients to be aware of risk factors. The new test has been declared as “innovative” by the American Association of Clinical Endocrinology and the two have been honoured for their work.
The test and associated study has been published in the Journal of Diabetes Mellitus; the paper is titled “Diabetes Detection in The Dental Office.”
