Diabetic kids prone to periodontal disease

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Gum inflammation and loosening of teeth can start very early in life in children with diabetes, according to a new study, and these periodontal conditions can become more prominent in adolescence.

Dr. Evanthia Lalla and colleagues from Columbia University Medical Center, New York, assessed the dental health of 182 diabetic children between 6 and 18 years of age, comparing them with 160 non-diabetic "controls."

The children with diabetes had significantly more dental plaque and higher gingival inflammation levels than the comparison group, the team reports in the medical journal Diabetes Care. The diabetic kids also had significantly more teeth that showed evidence of attachment loss, a characteristics sign of periodontal disease -- 5.8 teeth on average in the diabetes group, versus 1.5 in controls.

Statistically, diabetes was strongly related to periodontitis after factoring in a number of other variables. This was especially true in the 12- to 18-year-olds.

"As periodontal diseases are largely preventable and progression of destruction can be best arrested when identified in early stages, screening for periodontal changes and implementing prevention and treatment programs should be considered as a standard of care for young patients with diabetes," Lalla's team advises.

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, February 2006.