Oral lichen planus and diabetes association? A retospective study.

Objectives: Oral lichen planus (OLP) is a chronic immunological disorder which etiology remains unknown. Some studies have reported an association between OLP and diabetes mellitus (DM).
The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of DM in patients with OLP.
Methods: Patients were selected from all those reffered to the oral medicine and oral surgery department in the University Clinic of Dental Medicine of Monastir during the last four years. Diagnosis of OLP was confirmed by typical clinical and histopathological findings. Inclusion and Exclusion criteria were taken into consideration.
Results: Among 44 patients with OLP, 10 ( 22,22%) had diabetes, three of them had hypertension corresponding to the Grinspan’s Syndrome .This study showed a high prevalence of DM among patients with OLP.
Conclusions: There was a significant difference between the prevalence of DM among patients with OLP and the overall prevalence of Diabetes in Tunisia. Screening for DM by doing fasting blood glucose in patients with OLP is required to diagnose and prevent untoward complications of DM in its earlier stages