Dental caries and periodontal status in children with type 1 diabetes mellitus

Introduction
Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) is a chronic metabolic disease that strongly affects the health of individuals. Some studies have sug-gested that it affects oral health, thus indicating a higher-than-average predisposition of patients with diabetes to caries and periodontal diseases.

Aim of the study
We aimed at investigating the association between caries, periodontal diseases, and diabetes among children using dental indices.

Material and methods
The study included 50 children (aged 10–18 years) who had type 1 diabetes for at least years. The participants were divided into well controlled (WC), (HBA1c < 7.5%) and poorly controlled (PC) (HBA1c ≥ 7.5%) groups (25 diabetic children each). The control group (GC) included non-diabetic children. The following clinical parameters were measured: DMFT index, plaque index (PI), approximal plaque index (API), gingival index (GI), and modified sulcus bleeding index (mSBI).

Results
The WC group had the lowest average value – 3.44 of the DMFT index with values of 5.80 and 3.88 in the PC and GC groups, respec-tively. A statistically significant difference was found in the DMFT value between PC and WC groups (p = 0.04). No statistically signif-icant differences in the values of other indices were found between the groups.

Conclusions
Children with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes were characterised by a significantly higher intensity of caries. In contrast, no statistical-ly significant differences were observed in the periodontal status between the study groups.