Introduction
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is one of the most frequent pathologies
that dentists encounter. Its clinical importance
springs from the possible occurrence of acute complications,
whose severity could mean an immediate risk for
the diabetic patient’s life and require urgent diagnosis
and treatment (1).
DM includes a group of diseases characterized by impaired
action or secretion of insulin, or both. There are
four etiologic types of diabetes, although the most frequent
are type 1 (90%) and 2 (5- 10%) (2). Prevalence of
diabetes in adults worldwide was estimated to be 4% in
1995, and is predicted to rise to 5’4% by the year 2025.
The countries with the largest number of people with
diabetes are India, China and the U.S. In developing
countries, the majority are in the age range of 45–64
years. In the developed countries, the majority of people
with diabetes are aged 65 years. There are more women
than men with diabetes (3).
Poorly controlled diabetes could lead to complications
that may even be life- threatening. Long- term complications
include: retinopathy, nephropathy, autonomic
neuropathy, peripheral neuropathy and cardiovascular
disease (2, 4).
The dentist plays a major role with other members of the
health team in helping a patient maintain glycemic control
by achieving optimal oral health; and by referring
undiagnosed patients with complications suggestive of
diabetes to physicians for further evaluation (5).
Objectives
The objectives of this paper are: firstly, to do a review of
literature about diabetes mellitus, and the repercussions
of the disease in dentistry; and, secondly, to summarize
the management strategies that can be put into practice
in the dental office to treat these patients.
Material and Methods
For this review, we selected articles from the PubMed-
Medline database. We searched for them using key words
controlled by MeSh, all of them referred to diabetes, its
complications and considerations for the dental management.
The following limits were utilized: articles written
in Spanish or in English and published in the 1993- 2010
period. A total of 25 articles were chosen: 8 reviews of
literature (1 of them being a systematic review); 7 transversal
studies; 2 meta- analysis; 3 panels of experts; 2
clinical cases; 1 randomized clinical assay; 1 letter to the
editor and 1 case- control study.