IADR Abstract Archives
The Relationship Between Diabetes, Age and Number of Natural Teeth
Objectives: Although the prevalence of tooth loss in American adults has decreased, the average adult aged 20-64 has 24.92 remaining teeth. Individuals with diabetes have an increased risk of oral health complications including xerostomia, root caries and ultimately tooth loss. In this study, we investigated the relationship between the number of natural teeth in a population of individuals with diabetes as stratified by age and diabetes type and compared to a non-diabetic population.
Methods: Using the BigMouth Dental Data Repository, we extracted information on age, gender, race, body-mass index, diabetes type and the number of natural teeth. An automated query identified patients with and without diabetes and the corresponding number of natural teeth. We evaluated the performance of the query with a sub-sample of charts selected for manual review as determined by sample size. We performed data analysis using pairwise proportion tests, two sample t-tests to evaluate various variables and number of teeth, and linear regression analysis.
Results: In the reporting year of 2017, the query identified 5696 adult patients with at least one dental visit. Twenty-seven percent (1528) were diabetics. The manual review included 128 patients, 64 diabetics and 64 non-diabetics as the control group. Patients with diabetes and had lower number of natural teeth (21.02) compared to nondiabetics (25.20) (p-value <0.001).
Conclusions: Data available in the BigMouth Dental Data Repository is of value to evaluate the oral health status of our patients. Our results support the hypothesis that adults with diabetes have a lower number of teeth compared to non-diabetic adults, indicating that diabetics are at a greater risk for tooth loss, and should be included in targeted and personalized preventive efforts with the ultimate goal of retaining natural teeth.
Methods: Using the BigMouth Dental Data Repository, we extracted information on age, gender, race, body-mass index, diabetes type and the number of natural teeth. An automated query identified patients with and without diabetes and the corresponding number of natural teeth. We evaluated the performance of the query with a sub-sample of charts selected for manual review as determined by sample size. We performed data analysis using pairwise proportion tests, two sample t-tests to evaluate various variables and number of teeth, and linear regression analysis.
Results: In the reporting year of 2017, the query identified 5696 adult patients with at least one dental visit. Twenty-seven percent (1528) were diabetics. The manual review included 128 patients, 64 diabetics and 64 non-diabetics as the control group. Patients with diabetes and had lower number of natural teeth (21.02) compared to nondiabetics (25.20) (p-value <0.001).
Conclusions: Data available in the BigMouth Dental Data Repository is of value to evaluate the oral health status of our patients. Our results support the hypothesis that adults with diabetes have a lower number of teeth compared to non-diabetic adults, indicating that diabetics are at a greater risk for tooth loss, and should be included in targeted and personalized preventive efforts with the ultimate goal of retaining natural teeth.