TYPE 2 DIABETES MELLITUS;

Dental caries in patients.

Abstract

Objective: To determine the frequency and pattern of dental carries in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus. Design: Cross
sectional descriptive study. Patients and methods: Patients with history of type 2 diabetes mellitus for ≥ 02 years duration with ≥ 35 years of
age and of either gender with dental pain visit at medical and dental outpatient department (OPD) of Liaquat University Hospital Hyderabad.
The detail history was taken and the blood samples were taken for haemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) to assess the glycemic status. The existence
of dental carries and its pattern was diagnosed through dental examination by consultant dentist had clinical experience ≥05 years. The data
was collected on pre-designed proforma, entered and analyzed in SPSS version 11.00. Results: A total of 137 type 2 diabetic patients were
selected for this study, out of these 82 were males and 55 females. The dental carries was found in 98 (71.5%) patients. Out of these ninety
eight, 53 (54.08%) were males and 45 (45.92%) were female. Upper molar teeth involvement was present in 46 patients and lower molar
teeth were involved in 52 patients. Dentine carries was seen in 35 patients, enamel carries in 19, white spot carries in 20 patients, pulpitis in
16 patients, and pulp capping in 8 patients. Involvement of individual teeth was also assessed, the upper molar involvement was present in
32 patients, premolar involvement was present in 11, incisor involvement in 03 patients. The lower molars were involved in 28 patients,
lower pre molar in 21 and lower incisors in 03 patients. Dental carries was present in 43 (43.9%) patients in patients whose duration of
diabetes was between 5-10 years, whereas those patients having duration >10 years had 31.6% frequency of dental carries, while
regarding duration of <5 years only 24 (24.5%) patients had dental carries. Conclusions: The diabetic patients are more prone to acquire
dental caries.