Periodontal conditions in insulin‐dependent diabetics

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Abstract
The aim of this study was to compare the prevalence and severity of periodontal disease in age and sex matched adult long and short duration insulin‐dependent diabetics and non‐diabetics. The study involved 82 subejcts with long‐ and 72 with short‐duration diabetes and 77 non‐diabetics, all aged 20‐70 years. The clinical and radiographic examination comprised recordings of the number of existing teeth, absence or presence of plaque and supra‐ and subgingival calculus, gingival conditions, probing pocket depth and alveolar bone level. There were no significant differences in the number of existing teeth or presence of plaque and supra‐ and subgingival calculus between long‐ and short‐duration diabetics and non‐diabetics. Diabetics, irrespective of the duration of the disease, had a higher prevalence of sites with gingivitis than non‐diabetics. Overall, there were no significant differences between the groups regarding the prevalence of tooth surfaces with probing pocket depths of 4 and 5 mm. However, on comparison between age subgroups, long‐duration diabetics younger than 45 years had significantly more 4 and 5 mm pockets than non‐diabetics. Long‐duration diabetics altogether had significantly more tooth surfaces with probing depth ≥ 6 mm than non‐diabetics. The radiographs of alveolar bone height exhibited significantly more extensive alveolar bone loss in long‐duration diabetics aged 40–49 years than in short‐duration diabetics and non‐diabetics. This, together with the increased number of subjects belonging to classification groups with severe peridontal disease experience among long‐duration diabetics, indicates more periodontal disease in these diabetics.