Diabetes and your Mouth - Redmond Molloy
Posted on Wed, May 26, 2010 @ 10:08 AM
Diabetes and your mouth
If you have diabetes, you know the disease can harm your eyes, nerves, kidneys, heart and other important systems in the body. Did you know it can also cause problems in your mouth? People with diabetes have a higher than normal risk of periodontitis (gum diseases).
Periodontal diseases are infections of the gum and bone that hold the teeth in place. In advanced stages, they lead to painful chewing problems and even tooth loss. Like any infection, gum disease can make it hard to keep your blood sugar under control.
Diabetic Control.
Good diabetic control is the best protection against periodontal disease.
Smoking.
How Does Periodontal Disease Develop?
Poor brushing and flossing habits allow dental plaque -- a sticky film of germs -- to build up on teeth. Some of these germs cause gum disease. The gums can become red and swollen and may bleed during tooth brushing or flossing. In periodontitis, plaque builds and hardens under the gums. The gums pull away from the teeth, forming "pockets" of infection. The infection leads to loss of the bone that holds the tooth in its socket and might lead to tooth loss.
There are often no warning signs of early periodontitis. Pain, abscess, and loosening of the teeth do not occur until the disease is advanced. Since periodontitis affects more than just the gums, it cannot be controlled with regular brushing and flossing.
How Is Periodontal Disease Treated?
Treatment of periodontitis depends on how much damage the disease has caused. In the early stages, the dentist or periodontist will use deep cleaning to remove hardened plaque and infected tissue under the gum and smooth the damaged root surfaces of teeth. This allows the gum to re-attach to the teeth. A special mouth rinse or an antibiotic might also be prescribed to help control the infection.
Deep cleaning is successful only if the patient regularly brushes and flosses to keep the plaque from building up again.
Periodontal Surgery.
Key points to remember
- As someone with diabetes you may be more prone to gum problems. See your dentist regularly.
- By keeping good control of your diabetes, and having good blood sugar control, you can reduce the likelihood of gum disease.
- Brush and floss your teeth regularly, being careful to brush every part of the tooth. If this makes the gum bleed, it may be a sign of gum inflammation. If you are concerned about bleeding gums, be sure to visit a dentist.
- Even if you no longer have your own teeth, you should still see a dentist periodically to check the health of your mouth.
- If you have had periodontal disease in the past, it is especially important to continue to see the dentist to make sure the disease does not recur.
- Don't smoke. Smoking makes gum disease worse.
Gum surgery is needed when periodontitis is very advanced and tissues that hold a tooth in place are destroyed. The dentist or periodontist will clean out the infected area under the gum, then reshape or replace the damaged tooth-supporting tissues. These treatments increase the chances of saving the tooth. The harmful effects of smoking, particularly heart disease and cancer, are well known. Studies show that smoking also increases the chances of developing gum disease. In fact, smokers are five times more likely than nonsmokers to have gum disease. For smokers with diabetes, the risk is even greater. If you are a smoker with diabetes, age 45 or older, you are 20 times more likely than a person without these risk factors to get severe gum disease. Like other complications of diabetes, gum disease is linked to diabetic control. People with poor blood sugar control get gum disease more often and more severely, and they lose more teeth than do persons with good control. People whose diabetes is well controlled have no more periodontal disease than persons without diabetes.