Oral Manifestations among Diabetic Patients: A Cross-Sectional Study

Diabetes, ranked as the ninth most common disorder has the potential to greatly affect the oral health of a person if not taken care of on a routine basis. AIM: To assess the prevalence of oral manifestations in diabetic participants of Sunder Nagar town, Himachal Pradesh, India. MATERIALS AND METHOD: This online, questionnaire based cross-sectional study was conducted using a combination of convenience and snowball sampling among diabetics. The questionnaire was pre-tested and pre-validated, contained 16 questions which included self-reported oral health status of the people. The student’s t-test and Pearson’s correlation were applied to find out significant associations, if any. Data was analysed using SPSS version 21.0 and significance (p) was kept significant at ≤0.05. RESULTS: Out of a total of 180 complete responses, 8.3% were type 1 diabetics, 72.8% were type 2 diabetics and the rest 18.9% didn’t know their diabetic status. 71.7% of patients experienced bad breath, out of which 66.7% experience it early in the morning, 16.1% during the daytime, 5% every time, 12.2% never (p=0.02). 24.4% of the participants experienced burning mouth sensation, while 57.8% of participants experienced dry mouth (less salivation). 20.6% of the participants reported white patches over their tongue while 8.3% reported having white patches over the inner cheeks (buccal mucosa) and was found to be statistically significant (p=0.01). 58.9% of the diabetics were found to be non-smokers while 21.7% were occasional smokers and 11.1% were chain smokers. CONCLUSION: There is a need to educate diabetics regarding the effects of this disease on their oral health and the need to maintain proper hygiene.