Oral Health Status Among Case-Matched Diabetic and Non-Diabetic Patients

Objectives: To determine differences, if any, in the oral health among case-matched Type-I Diabetic, Type-II Diabetic and Non-Diabetic patients
Methods: This study used secondary data from the axiUm (EXAN) electronic health records of patients accepted for comprehensive care at a dental school. Age and sex matched Type-I diabetic, Type-II diabetic and non-diabetic (ND) patients (N=185) over a 2 year period (2013-2014 calendar years) were included in this study. Odontograms, Radiographs, Health & Dental History, and Reports were used to collect data after IRB approval. Over 40 independent and dependent variables were utilized in this study. Data were entered and edited for accuracy and analyzed using IBM SPSS Ver.23. Statistical analyses included Descriptives and Oneway ANOVA with Tukey's HSD and Levene's Test (α=0.05).
Results: Mean overall Decayed, Missing, Filled teeth score was 17.4 (SD=8.0) with no significant difference observed between the groups (p>0.05). While Decayed and Missing were not different, Filled (μ=4.9, SD=4.2) was significantly higher in the Type-II patients (p<0.05). Bleeding on probing was 5.78% (SD=13.5) among the Non-Diabetic and significantly greater than the Type-I and Type-II (p<0.05). Bleeding points (μ=8.85, SD=20.4), mobility score of teeth (μ=5.788, SD= 2.1) were more significant among the Non-Diabetic (p<0.05). Frequency of pocket depths of >4mm (μ=2.95, SD=10.2) and plaque % (μ=9.84, SD=21.2) were significantly lower in the Type-I (p<0.05).
Conclusions: Results from the preliminary analysis within this sample showed that Non-Diabetic patients were worse off with respect to oral health than the Type-I and Type-II diabetic patients. Age standardized analyses and effects of medical comorbidities within this sample will be explored.
Acknowledgements: We thank Ms. Angela Hickman for helping access the data through axiUm.