Relationship between type 2 diabetes and oral health status

Aims: This prospective cross-sectional study aimed to compare the decayed, missing, filled teeth (DMFT) index values and dental caries prevalence of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) to those of healthy individuals, and to examine the effect of inadequate glycemic control on DMFT and caries prevalence. Methods: T2DM patients were divided into two groups based on metabolic control: well-controlled (WC; HbA1c ≤7%) and poorly controlled (PC; HbA1c >7%). The clinical parameters assessed were the number of natural teeth, the coronal DMFT index, the simplified oral hygiene index (OHI-S), and body-mass index (BMI). Results: The DMFT index and number of filled teeth were similar between the WC and healthy control groups. In contrast, the PC group showed significantly higher values than both the WC and control groups. The highest DMFT index (14.38) was observed in the PC group, and the lowest (9.90) in the control group (p