Patients With Diabetes
Diabetes is a chronic disease which affects your body’s ability to process sugar. The resulting high blood sugar can cause problems with your eyes, nerves, kidneys, heart and other parts of your body. Diabetes can lower your resistance to infection and can slow the healing process.
A diabetic patient is at greater risk to develop some oral health issues. The most common issue in patients with diabetes is periodontitis or gum disease. Diabetes and Gum disease is deeply interlinked and recent research on diabetes and periodontitis suggests that treating and controlling both complements both disease. Patients with diabetes are more prone for gum disease and are at risk of developing severe periodontitis, due to reduced immune and longer healing time. Diabetic patients, who undergo periodontal therapy and regular maintenance to address gum disease has shown to improve blood sugar levels and have better control over diabetes. We encourage you to visit your dentist regularly once every 4 months if you are a diabetic patient.
The reduced immunity due to diabetes could result to fungal infections in your mouth and could lead to difficulty swallowing and can develop painful sores. See your dentist to address any such conditions.
Controlling diabetes is vital if you undergo any gum surgery or any other surgical procedures. This will help heal the gum faster and will help the healing process in general after surgery.