Comparison of oral mucosal soft tissue lesions prevalence in diabetic patients and healthy subjects

Type 2 diabetes is one of the most common chronic diseases caused by environmental and genetic factors. The development of diabetes affects all organs of the body. Oral complications of diabetes cause discomfort and dissatisfaction for affected patients. In this study, we aimed to compare the prevalence of oral lesions between patients and healthy persons.

In this study, complete oral examinations were performed to detect and record any type of oral lesion in 37 diabetic patients and 41 healthy individuals. The prevalence of each lesion was determined separately, and then overall prevalence of lesions was documented to analyze groups by mann-whitney & Friedman test and chi-square test by spss21.

Median-rhomboid glossitis, oral candidiasis, angular cheilitis, burning mouth, fissured tongue, geographic tongue and dry mouth were higher in the diabetic group; but only burning mouth and dry mouth were significantly higher. The prevalence of total oral lesions was significantly higher in the diabetic group (94.6%) than in the healthy group (65.9%) (p= 0.002).

The high prevalence of oral lesions in diabetic patients indicates that screening of at risk patients; and monitoring of affected patients is very important, and dentists can play a critical role.