Impact of Periodontal Therapy on Patients With Diabetes

With poorly controlled diabetes, periodontal disease worsens, and with severe periodontal conditions, there is often poorer glycemic control. Published papers conclude that periodontal treatment leads to a reduction in hemoglobin A1c; however, other studies show limited or no improvement. Some patients do not respond well to professional periodontal therapy, even without diabetes, which could be related to poor oral hygiene and/or host factors including microbial profiles. There are few published papers investigating the efficacy of periodontal therapy in diabetics and fewer that include assessment of the oral microbiome. The investigators will examine systemic changes in diabetes status and microbiome influences on clinical response to periodontal therapy in a randomized clinical trial. It has been shown that chlorhexidine gluconate rinse leads to significant clinical improvement over standard periodontal therapy alone, and interdental tooth cleaners remove more dental plaque (leading to reduced gingival inflammation) effectively than brushing alone. Therefore, in this study, standard periodontal therapy, scaling and root planning (SRP) will be provided alone, or SRP plus supportive periodontal therapy (SPT), the use of chlorhexidine gluconate rinse (Paroex®) and a rubber interdental bristle cleaner (Soft-Picks), to diabetics and non-diabetics with periodontal disease to determine the differences in response between the groups. The main aim of this study is to evaluate the effects of SRP alone versus SRP+SPT on clinical, microbiological and immunological status of subjects with and without type 2 diabetes and with periodontal disease. A clearer understanding of how periodontal therapy affects diabetes status could lead to the development of novel new targeted therapies of both periodontal disease and diabetes.