Bad teeth and gums play a key role in type II diabetes, researchers have discovered. Gum diseases such as gingivitis and severe periodontitis escalate diabetes - and may even be a major cause of it in the first place - while diabetes, in turn, makes the gum disease worse.
Researchers have started to realise the importance of gum and teeth health in diabetes and other diseases, and two landmark studies this year confirmed the association. In one, researchers discovered that people with gum disease were twice as likely to develop diabetes. In another study, researchers found that gaining glycemic control of diabetics was almost impossible if they also had gum disease.
(Source: Journal of the American Medical Association, 2008; 300: 2471-3).