Dental teams could detect diabetes via new pathway
New research aims to validate routine screening during oral health check-ups.
Dental teams in the UK may help to detect the early signs of Type-2 diabetes, as new research aims to validate routine screening during oral health check-ups.
Diabetes is one of the most common chronic conditions in Europe and is widely recognised to have a strong link with severe gum disease (periodontitis). An estimated 1 in 3 people living with diabetes remain undiagnosed, with over 1 million undiagnosed in the UK alone. Left untreated, diabetes can lead to long-term complications or can be life-threatening.
Recognising this link, researchers at the University of Birmingham have secured funding from Haleon, the global consumer health company which owns oral health brands like Sensodyne, Corsodyl and Polident, and the support of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC), to continue the development of a new care pathway for early case detection of Type-2 diabetes and pre-diabetes in high street dental practices.
This funding will enable us to validate the 2-step model on patients routinely attending dental practices across the UK
Professor Iain Chapple
In a study published in 2023, the group at the University of Birmingham comprising Dr Zehra Yonel and Professors Iain Chapple and Thomas Dietrich teamed up with Professor Laura Gray from the University of Leicester to develop a new score called the Diabetes risk assessment in Dentistry Score (DDS), for use by dental teams to detect pre-diabetes and diabetes in dental settings.
As part of a recent pilot study called INDICATE, funded by NIHR and Diabetes UK, the DDS was used in conjunction with a finger-prick test for diabetes, called the HbA1c test. The INDICATE trial, which engaged 13 dental practices and 805 dental patients, found that almost 15% of people walking through dental practice doors perceiving themselves to be healthy, exceeded UK pre-diabetes / diabetes thresholds (≥ 42mmol/mol HbA1c).
Now, thanks to funding from Haleon and NIHR, INDICATE-2 will work with 50 dental practices across Scotland and England to screen more than 10,000 patients and develop a care pathway that could help health services detect and treat many more people with undiagnosed diabetes in the UK.
Dr Zehra Yonel, Clinical Lecturer in Periodontology at the University of Birmingham’s Dental School and co-lead researcher on INDICATE-2, said: “This exciting collaboration with Haleon will allow us to determine the actual prevalence of pre-diabetes and Type-2 diabetes within a larger, more representative population sample and assess the feasibility of scaling this approach nationally. It will explore the patient journey and identify barriers or challenges in the care pathway from oral health professional to general medical practitioner (GP) and back to the dental team.”
Professor Iain Chapple MBE, Professor of Periodontology and Consultant in Restorative Dentistry at the University of Birmingham’s Dental School and co-lead researcher for INDICATE-2, said: “This funding from Haleon is very exciting as it will enable us to validate the 2-step model on patients routinely attending dental practices across the UK, and test onward referral pathways of high-risk patients to their family doctors for diagnosis and treatment.”
Adam Sisson, Head of R&D, Oral Health, Haleon, added: “We are delighted to be collaborating with the University of Birmingham and NIHR to help support on this important scientific research. We hope the findings will underpin a new care pathway aimed at proactively identifying and treating more people with diabetes by leveraging the expertise of oral health professionals. The study will also help to draw further attention to the links between our oral and systemic health.”