Study Suggests Dentists Seeing Patients With Periodontitis Could Identify Diabetes With HbA1c.

reports on a study published in BMJ Open Diabetes Research and Care finding that “screening periodontitis patients in the dentist’s office with a glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) test may help identify undiagnosed cases of diabetes and prediabetes.” The researchers also found that “patients with severe periodontitis had significantly higher mean HbA1c values compared with a control group without periodontitis” with 23% of those with severe periodontitis identified as having diabetes, and 47% of those with severe periodontitis identified as having pre-diabetes. The study was based on data from 313 patients at a university dental clinic, of whom 78 had severe periodontitis. http://www.medpagetoday.com/endocrinology/diabetes/63340