The Research Clinics Network of the Spanish Periodontics Society (SEPA), with the support of Sunstar, has begun a project that aims to evaluate, in a situation of real clinical practice, the efficiency of a risk evaluation protocolof diagnostic diabetes or prediabetes in the dental consultation.

“Taking into account the bidirectional relationship between gum diseases and diabetes, dental clinics are an ideal place for the early detection of this metabolic disease.They attend a great proportion of the population, facilitating the early identification of signs that warn of the existence or risk of future development of diabetes;With the consequent implementation of initiatives for the promotion of health, prevention and treatment, ”says the president of SEPA, Adrián Guerrero.

The FINDRISC questionnaire and basic periodontal exam (EPB) will be used for this."Both exams, very simple and fast, that allow an estimate of the risk of diabetes and periodontitis, respectively," he says."The hypothesis is that, combining both, the risk detection capacity of people who have diabetes could be increased and they still do not know," adds the main investigator of the study and former president of SEPA, Dr. David Herrera.

questionnaires to evaluate the protocol

“Findrrrrrisc (Finnish Diabetes Risk Score) is a worldwide reference questionnaire that consists of a series of questions such as age, consumption of fruits and vegetables, physical exercise, family history of Diabetes Mellitus, etc ... and whose utility in theDiagnosis of not known diabetes has been validated in different populations, ”explains Sepa.

“For its part, the EPB is a useful index when evaluating the periodontal treatment needs of the population.Airing both tools, researchers expect the risk identification capacity to increase the protocol risk, as well as their sensitivity, specificity and utility to identify in a right way to people with unknown diabetes, ”adds society.

The beginning of the investigation, which is expected for the first quarter of 2017, has the approval of the Ethical Committee of the Clinical Hospital of Madrid, a reference committee for the Faculty of Dentistry of the Complutense University of Madrid (UCM), which isThe main center of the study.As the study researcher and component of the ETEP research group (etiology and therapeutic of periodontal diseases) of the UCM, Dr. Eduardo Montero, “the objective is to evaluate up to 60 patients in each of the 30 clinics that it is intended that it is intended that it is intended that it is intended toparticipate in the study, which would make a total of the 1,000 patients. ”