A selection of abstracts of clinically relevant papers from other journals. The abstracts on this page have been chosen and edited by Reena Wadia For some patients, dental visits may be the only point of contact with the healthcare system, which heightens the importance of including diabetes risk assessment for patient well-being.
This study aimed to evaluate the potential benefit of prediabetes risk assessment in the dental setting. Data from 10,472 adults in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey from 2013-16 were analysed for associations among prediabetes/diabetes risk factors, healthcare use and HbA1c level. A total of 8% of US adults had seen a dentist but not a medical provider in the past 12 months. The composition of this subpopulation was significantly different from that who saw a medical provider, in ways that might affect diabetes risk. From this subpopulation, 31% would be identified as high risk for prediabetes and 16% had HbA1c levels indicative of undiagnosed prediabetes or diabetes. Screening in a dental setting would have the highest odds of identifying someone unaware of their diabetes risk among those who were non-White, obese or ≥ 45 years old. Extrapolation indicates that screening for prediabetes at dental visits has the potential to alert approximately 22.36 million adults of their risk for prediabetes or diabetes.
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Prediabetes and diabetes screening in dental care settings: 2013 to 2016. Br Dent J 226, 109 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2019.73
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.bdj.2019.73
