Gum Care Helps Control Type 2 Diabetes and Its Complications

Intensive periodontitis intervention, for example, can significantly lower one’s levels of A1C, a measure of long-term glucose control.

“We have found evidence that the severity of periodontal disease is associated with higher levels of insulin resistance, often a precursor of type 2 diabetes, as well as with higher levels of A1C,” dentist Maria E. Ryan, director of clinical research at the Stony Brook University School of Dental Medicine in New York, said in a prepared statement.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/06/07/AR2008060700728.html

Hi A,
This is an interesting article. It has long been known in the medical community that “trouble” inside the mouth, whether it is in the gums or the teeth often leads to problems with the heart and other body systems. A generalized inflammatory process is usually there when the blood sugars are out of control and the liver can’t work as it should and the pancreas is involved, etc. etc.
It all makes me wonder which came first, the chicken or the egg. Each of our body systems are so deeply affected by each other that i personally think we would be so much closer to getting the answer of how to cure if we could just tag the very beginning
As the native american indian communities have so much genetics tied up in their diabetes, I would really like to see other specific communties researched along these lines as well.

yes… the cleaning twice of year is very good idea… MOM told me that. no kidding good teeth helps no matter… if you like the chicken or eggs… LOL!

Mouth and gum care cannot be stressed enough. As a nurse, I have seen patients that had nothing more than an absessed tooth; then the infection spread to their brain. they became brain damaged for life or died. SEE your dentist twice a year and remember to brush and floss.