Dental Expert Reveals Potential Breakthrough for Diabetes Management

UK: In a recent episode of the Zoe podcast, renowned dental expert Dr Alp Kantarci shared groundbreaking insights into the relationship between oral health and diabetes management. Dr Kantarci, who holds multiple roles including dentist, oral health researcher, and senior staff member at the Forsyth Institute, emphasised the critical link between gum disease and diabetes.

The Diabetes-Gum Disease Connection

Dr Kantarci highlighted that gum disease is one of the six major indicators of diabetes. He stated, “Diabetes was the first disease that was connected to gum disease. Back in the 1990s, the studies have shown that if you have diabetes, regardless of the type of diabetes, you will have gums that are bleeding.”

Treating Gum Disease: A Potential Game-Changer

Perhaps the most striking revelation from Dr Kantarci was the potential impact of treating gum disease on diabetes management. He explained, “If you treat gum disease in a patient with diabetes, you can reduce your blood sugar levels, haemoglobin, A1C levels that can help our medical colleagues to treat the diabetes.”

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The Dual Benefits of Oral Health Treatment

Dr Kantarci elaborated on the twofold benefits of treating gum disease in diabetic patients:

• Reduction of bacterial load
• Decrease in overall inflammatory burden

He stated, “Your inflammatory burden is one of the reasons why your diabetes gets worse. Your blood sugar goes up, your haemoglobin A1C levels go up and your response to diabetic treatments or diabetic drugs and so on and so forth will be completely impaired.”

New Role for Dentists in Diabetes Management

This information suggests a potentially expanded role for dental professionals in managing systemic diseases like diabetes. Dr Kantarci noted, “This is the humbling moment. That the dentist becomes a part of the medical team because we’re not treating diabetes. We treat our own diseases… but we can help our medical colleagues treat their patients better if the patients are treated by us too.”

Expert Reaction

Zoe App CEO Jonathan Wolf expressed astonishment at these findings, stating, “I just want to make sure I’ve got that because I’ve never heard that before. And it’s really amazing… Which is extraordinary.”

While these findings offer hope for improved diabetes management through dental care, further research and clinical trials may be necessary to fully understand and implement this approach in standard diabetes treatment protocols.

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