Periodontitis, an infection in the gums, doubles the risk of developing diabetes mellitus - normally called diabetes -, as experts have reported today on the occasion of the 19th Seminar of the Joslin Sunstar Diabetes Education Initiatives (JSdei) that will be held tomorrow in Barcelona.
The JSDEI are an initiative promoted by the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston (USA) and the Sunstar Foundation (Japan), specialized in oral health, which aims to "raise awareness about the close relationship between oral health and diabetes to doctors and dentistsand also to patients. "
Meeting participants have also stressed that "diabetics have three times more chances of suffering from oral problems" and have confirmed that "it is possible to detect diabetes or prediabetes from the dentist's consultation."
According to the Biomedical Research Center of Diabetes and Metabolic Diseases associated (CIBERDEM), "in Spain diabetes has a prevalence of 13.8 % but about half, that is, 2.3 million Spaniards, do not know thatThey suffer from this disease. "
Cyberdem has also stressed that "periodontitis is the most common oral infection and suffers from more than 40 % of those over 30 years."
Experts have insisted on the relationship between diabetes and dental health and have assured that, according to data from US medical insurance companies, "periodontal treatment and gum health maintenance can reduce up to 40 % by up to 40 %Economic costs derived from diabetes ".
The Endocrinology Professor of the UB and director of CIBERDEM, Eduard Montanya, explained that, "when there is a gingival infection, pro inflammatory substances enter the bloodstream through the mouth and increase insulin resistance, behaving more complicationsto diabetic people. "
Eduard Montanya has added that "diabetes causes a state of general inflammation and, due to this, increases the risk of developing oral problems, maximizing their infection."
The meeting will also be attended by the professor and period of period of the Complutense University of Madrid, Mariano Sanz, the Professor of Biology and Oral Microbiology at the University of Buffalo (USA), Robert J. Genco, and the president of the Spanish Periodontics Society(Sepa), David Herrera, among others.