Oral health knowledge and behavior among adults with diabetes

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine levels of oral health knowledge and factors associated with adequate oral health knowledge in adults with diabetes. A convenience sample of 253 adult US residents with diabetes completed an oral health survey to assess their knowledge. Results showed that only 47% of the participants answered five or more (out of a maximum of seven) oral health knowledge items related to diabetes correctly. Participants who received oral health information related to diabetes have 2.9 times the odds of possessing adequate oral health knowledge (i.e., answered five or more items correctly) compared to participants who did not received that information controlling for education and race (OR = 2.86, 95% CI 1.26-6.24, P = 0.008). Given that oral health information provided by health professionals (dental and/or medical) contributes to improve oral health knowledge among adults with diabetes, health professionals should take the opportunity to educate patients with diabetes about the oral manifestations (e.g., dry mouth) and complications (e.g., periodontitis and oral candidiasis) of diabetes and to promote proper oral health behaviors.

Oral health awareness in adult patients with diabetes: a questionnaire study

“…Indeed, dental care activities were not rated as important self-care tasks in comparison to other diabetes self-management activities. These results confirm the findings of other studies [16][17][18] showing a limited awareness of the importance of good oral health in patients with diabetes. Although the majority of respondents were registered with a dentist and attended one or more appointments per year, some were not receiving professional dental care, particularly edentulous patients.…”

“…Highest awareness was of mouth dryness being associated with diabetes, although less than half were aware of this, which supports previous findings. 18 Lack of awareness and poor oral self-care may be partly explained by the fact that over two thirds (69.1%) of respondents reported that they had never received any oral care advice from any health professional in relation to their diabetes, despite high levels of dental attendance. This suggests that general dental practitioners (GDPs) do not routinely discuss how diabetes can affect oral health and self-care prevention measures with patients.…”

“…However, several studies, [16][17][18] conducted worldwide, have shown that people with diabetes often lack important knowledge about the oral health complications of diabetes, and have poor levels of oral self-care.…”

Consequências sistêmicas da cirurgia bariátrica e suas repercussões na saúde bucal

“…Differences were found in the number of cavities, with index slightly higher in diabetic patients. Considering that diabetes is associated with manifestations in the oral cavity -diseases of the oral mucosa and salivary glands, xerostomia, periodontitis and oral candidiasis 61,63 -, one can deduce that diabetic patients submitted to bariatric surgery with diabetes control, may have oral improvement compared to previous situation.…”

Acceptability of delivery of dietary advice in the dentistry setting to address obesity in pre-school children: a case study of the Common Risk Factor Approach

“…There have long been initiatives delivered in the dentistry setting to improve health issues other than oral health; for example, the promotion of alcohol and smoking cessation to prevent cancers (3,4) . More recently, attention has been paid to the relationships between oral health and the obesity-related health issues of CVD and diabetes, which share lifestyle-related risk factors such as low physical activity and high-sugar diets (5)(6)(7) . The case has been made in support of addressing childhood obesity in the dentistry setting (8,9) .…”