Impact of Oral Health Knowledge and Attitude on the Severity of Periodontitis among Patients with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus: A Cross-Sectional Study

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the level of oral health knowledge and attitudes of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients affected their periodontitis severity.METHODS: Descriptive and statistical analysis of secondary data collected from follow-up 184 T2DM patients attending at Endocrinology Unit, Faculty of Medicine Vajira Hospital, was used.RESULTS: All T2DM subjects were diagnosed as having periodontitis but with different degrees of severity: 64.7% and 70.0% of subjects with mild-to-moderate periodontitis had high knowledge and high attitude scores, respectively. A higher proportion of subjects (76.3%) with severe periodontitis had low attitude score. Of well-controlled diabetic subjects 20.6% had severe periodontitis, while of uncontrolled patients 40.8% suffered severe periodontitis. There was no significant difference between knowledge or attitude score and the level of periodontitis severity in T2DM. However, experiencing gingival problems was significantly related to periodontitis severity (p = 0.024).CONCLUSION: General oral health knowledge does not have any impact on periodontitis severity while attitude seemingly does. Emphasize the knowledge on characteristic of gingival problems might affect periodontal health in people living with diabetes.