How Diabetes Affects Your Oral Health

If you have diabetes, your mouth needs extra attention. Diabetes and gum disease affect each other both ways: diabetes raises your risk of gum disease, and gum disease makes blood sugar harder to control. Here's the connection and how to manage it.

How diabetes affects your mouth

• More gum disease. Diabetes lowers the body's ability to fight bacteria, so people with diabetes are two to three times more likely to develop periodontitis.
• Dry mouth. High blood sugar can reduce saliva, causing soreness, ulcers, and decay — saliva normally neutralises acid and washes away food.
• Slower healing. Diabetes slows healing, so gums recover more slowly from infection or treatment.

How your mouth affects diabetes

• Blood-sugar control. Inflammation from gum disease can increase insulin resistance and push blood sugar up.
• Treating gum disease helps. Studies show that managing gum disease can improve blood-sugar markers (HbA1c) in people with diabetes.

Tips for a healthy smile and steadier blood sugar

1. Brush and floss at least twice a day to keep plaque down.
2. See your dentist regularly — a check-up and cleaning every six months, or more often if advised.
3. Keep blood sugar in range to lower your oral-health risk.
4. Don't smoke, which worsens both gum disease and diabetes.
5. Eat a balanced diet that supports your gums and your blood sugar.

Managing diabetes? Tell us at your visit so we can tailor your care. Book a gum health check, and see how oral health affects your body.