Oral hygiene status and caries experience: A comparative study of diabetic and non-diabetic patients

Abstract

Objective: To compare the oral hygiene status and caries experience among diabetic and non-diabetic patients and to determine the relationship between glycaemic control and the severity of the oral health problems among the diabetics.

Methods: The comparative cross-sectional study was carried out among diabetics and non-diabetic who were age and sex matched. Data collated include demographic characteristics, fasting blood sugar level, number of decayed, missing and filled teeth, oral hygiene status as well as the presence and extent of tooth mobility. Chi-square test was used to test for statistical significance difference between categorical variables in both groups. Comparison of the mean simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S) score and the mean decayed teeth (D), missing teeth (M), filled teeth (F) scores in both groups was done using independent t- test. P-value<0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: A total of 168 patients (84 cases and 84 controls) participated in this study. The mean decayed missing and filled teeth score among cases and controls was 0.37 ± 0.51 and 0.57 ± 0.23 respectively (P= 0.009) while the mean Oral Hygiene Index score was 1.81 ± 0.09 among the cases and 2.18 ± 0.10 among the controls (P= 0.039). Majority of the cases (54.8%) and controls (65.5%) had fair oral hygiene status (P=0.166) while most of the cases (52.4%) had no caries experience with a DMFT score of zero (P= 0.032). More persons in the control group had decayed teeth, missing teeth and mobile teeth (P>0.05). Filled teeth were however seen in 16.7% of cases and 4.8% of controls (P=0.032). In diabetic patients with poor glycaemic control, more decayed, missing, filled and mobile teeth were seen while periodontal disease was the major reason for tooth loss among the diabetic patients.

Conclusion: There is a difference between the oral hygiene status and caries experience in diabetic and non-diabetic patients while poor glycaemic control is directly related to the severity of the oral health problems among the diabetics.