Diabetes and Periodontitis – A Socioeconomic Disease?

Periodontitis is a chronic inflammation of periodontal tissues. It is a slow progressing infectious disease. Periodontitis is recognized as the sixth complication of diabetes. Periodontitis and diabetes are chronic diseases. It has a bilateral relationship with diabetes mellitus. Socioeconomic status encompasses income, educational status of head of the family, and family occupation. To upgrade and assess the knowledge concerning the association of periodontitis with diabetes and socioeconomic status, conclusions derived from the case - control studies, epidemiological studies and cross-sectional studies indexed in PubMed / Medline, Scopus journals during the period of 2010 – 2020 were analysed. This article elucidates 1) Whether there is a relationship between periodontitis and diabetes and vice-versa? 2) Association between periodontitis and socioeconomic status? 3) Relationship between socioeconomic status, diabetes, and periodontitis? After a thorough evaluation of the literature, it was found that there is a link between diabetes with periodontitis and vice-versa, socioeconomic status with periodontitis and diabetes, and thus there is a direct association of periodontitis with diabetes and socioeconomic status. Diabetes and socioeconomic status are the prime risk factors of periodontitis. The education and motivation regarding periodontal health in all socioeconomic groups, pre-diabetes, and diabetics with periodontitis in the population would yield a better oral health quality of life. With the changes in socioeconomic status scale in each year, the need for reviewing the association between periodontitis, diabetes, and socioeconomic status in India becomes imperative. KEY WORDS SES - Socioeconomic Status, IDDM - Insulin - Dependent Diabetes Mellitus, NIDDM - Non - Insulin - Dependent Diabetes Mellitus, IL - 6 - Interleukin - 6, IL - 1β - Interleukin 1 Beta, TNFα - Tumour Necrosis Factor Alpha