<p>Self-reported oral health and quality of life in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus in primary care: a multi-center cross-sectional study</p>

Abstract

Background: Guidelines for primary diabetes care recommend to pay attention to oral health in patients with diabetes mellitus type 2 (T2DM). However, research about dental care utilization and the extent of problems regarding oral health in these patients is limited. Purpose: To assess self-reported oral health, general health-related quality of life (QoL) and oral health-related QoL in patients with T2DM who regularly attend a family physician office. Methods: Family physician offices were recruited in the area of Amsterdam, the Netherlands, as part of a cluster-randomized controlled trial. At these offices, patients with T2DM were included by family physicians and/or nurse practitioners. Patient data on general characteristics, self-reported oral health (including periodontitis), general health-related QoL (SF-36) and oral health-related QoL (OHIP-NL14) were collected. Results: Twenty-four family physician offices participated, who enrolled 764 patients with T2DM (mean age: 65.9±10.7 years, 56% male, 16% smoker). Almost 11% of the patients were metabolically poorly controlled (HbA1c >63 mmol/mol), 39% were obese (body mass index≥30 kg/m 2), 37% had hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥140 mmHg) and 44% had dyslipidemia (LDL-cholesterol >2.5 mmol/L). About a quarter (24%) reported not to visit a dentist regularly and 30% did not have dental insurance coverage. Furthermore, 16% of the patients were edentulous and having full dental prostheses, while 29% had a partial dental prosthesis. Pain in the mouth, dry mouth and bad breath were reported by 15%, 37% and 12% of the patients, respectively. Almost 70% suffered from periodontitis. Oral health-related QoL was impaired in 19% of the patients, and those subjects also had worse general health-related QoL. Conclusion: Almost a quarter of patients with T2DM at Dutch family physician offices does not visit the dentist regularly. The estimated prevalence of periodontitis is particularly high, but other oral health complaints and impaired oral health-related QoL are also relatively common. Keywords: self-reported oral health, oral health-related quality of life, diabetes mellitus type 2, primary care, family physician

Oral Health Status, Knowledge, and Behaviours of People with Diabetes in Sydney, Australia

“…In our study, half of the respondents reported to have other chronic diseases in additional to diabetes and the majority had a lower socio-economic status, so these factors would have played an additional role in the higher prevalence of poor oral health status. More than half of the patients reported having one or more oral health problems with dry mouth being the most prevalent issue and this was similar to the findings of a study from Netherlands [ 27 ]. However, the mean (SD) OHIP-14 severity score (11.38 ± 12.0) found in our study was significantly higher compared to that reported among participants in the Dutch study (2.5 ± 5.2) [ 27 ].…”

Association between chronic conditions and oral health services utilization in older Peruvian adults: A pooled analysis of the Demographic and Health Survey 2015-2017

“…Regarding CCs, the prevalence of OHSU in the previous 6 months was 24.3% in participants with diabetes. Although this was greater than the overall percentage of participants who received OHSU (18.5%) in our study, some studies of patients with diabetes have reported even higher prevalence rates of OHSU (between 40% and 73%) [ 27 - 29 ]. However, those studies evaluated dental visits during the previous 12 months, unlike our approach, which involved a 6-month interval.…”

“…Even when this performance was greater than the overall percentage of OHSU (18.5%) in our study, some studies on diabetic patients have reported a higher prevalence of OHSU (between 40% and 73%) [27][28][29]. However, these studies evaluated dental visits taking into account the last 12 months, contrary to our approach involving a 6-month interval.…”

IDF Diabetes Atlas: Diabetes and oral health – A two-way relationship of clinical importance

“…Both children/adolescents [12] and adults with pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes, respectively, visit the dentist less frequently than their normoglycemic peers [119]. For example, nearly one-quarter of Dutch patients attending family physicians' offices did not have regular dental visits [113]. Fig.…”

“…Furthermore, even though periodontitis is regarded a ''silent" disease due to its potential lack of noticeable signs and symptoms during the majority of its development, up until movement or loosening of the tooth, a systematic review limited to clinically assessed (not self-reported) periodontitis demonstrated the important role of periodontitis in the oral health impact on quality of life [112]. In a study in Amsterdam of 764 patients with type 2 attending 24 general medical offices, both oral health and general health related quality of life were diminished [113].…”