A clinical study conducted by researchers of the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences (Bellvitge Campus) shows that control of type 2 diabetes improves notably when the patient takes a special care of the dental hygiene.

The study, published in The Journal of Clinical Periodontology, is led by Miquel Viñas, professor of microbiology and member of the IDIBELL; and José López López, lecturer of medicine, and medical director at the Dental Hospital of the UB. Other participants were Enric Jané, Albert Estrugo, and Elisabet Mauri Obradors, from the Department of Odonto-Stomatology, and Alexandra Merlos, from the Department of Pathology and Experimental Therapy and from the IDIBELL.

It is known that type 2 diabetes, the most common type of this disease, often goes with periodontal pathologies. “In this new study, we saw that there is not only a relation between them going from diabetes to periodontal diseases, but the other way round, from the periodontal disease to diabetes,” says Miquel Viñas.

“The main conclusion of the study is that the non-surgical treatment of periodontitis improves the glycemic status and levels of glycated hemoglobin, and therefore, proves the great importance of oral health in these patients,” adds José López López.

The study has been carried out with ninety patients with type 2 diabetes who received oral treatment for 6 months. During this period, they underwent a control of glycated hemoglobin, as well as on the evolution of oral bacteria populations that cause periodontitis, apart from a control on other clinical parameters.