Diabetic patients sometimes complain of having a dry
mouth (xerostomia), which can be due to thirst, a frecomplicaquent
manifestation of diabetes (16). In a study carried
out on 40 adult type 2 diabetic patients, it was possible
to assess objectively, using scintigraphy of the salivary
glands, that there was an actual alteration in the salivary
glands’ function (17). A different study revealed an alteration
in the secretory capacity of the salivary glands in
adults with poorly controlled diabetes, compared to well
controlled diabetic patients and nondiabetic patients,
although they did not refer xerostomia (18).
Sialadenosis is an asymptomatic bilateral parotid gland
enlargement quite common in diabetes (especially type
2). It has also been reported in alcoholism with liver pathology,
and in chronic malnutrition (19). It is considered
a metabolic or degenerative pathology (not inflammatory
or tumoral). The most accepted etiopathogenic theory
posits the existence of a disturbance in the autonomic
sympathetic innervation, that leads to a dysregulation
of protein synthesis and/ or its secretion. Cytoplasmic
swelling develops from engorgement of intracytoplasmic
zymogen granules. As a result, the parotid’s acini,
which normally measure 40 μm in diameter, increases to
as much as 100 μm. This enlargement causes the clinically
visible glandular hypertrophy (19). It has also been
reported that parotid enlargement in diabetic patients
could be a consequence of lipid infiltration, due to the
alteration in the lipidic metabolism in diabetes (20). In
any case, sialadenosis does not require treatment (19).
In diabetic patients, the presence of Candida species in
the oral cavity is greater than in non diabetic patients;
however, candidal infection –candidosis- may not be significantly
higher, not even in individuals with a poorly
controlled diabetes. The mechanism by which diabetes
predisposes a high oral presence of Candida is not yet
established (21), although it is believed that the reasons