Insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and oral soft tissue pathologies I. Prevalence and characteristics of non-candidal lesions

Objective, A large epidemiologic study on oral health has found that severa l oral soft tissue lesions were more prevalent in subjects with insulin-dep endent diabetes mellitus than in control subjects without diabetes. Our obj ective in part I of this article is to characterize those lesions not assoc iated with Candida. Study Design. This cross-sectional study determined the prevalence and char acteristics of oral soft tissue diseases identified during a comprehensive oral evaluation of 405 adult subjects with diabetes and 268 control subject s without diabetes. Results, Twenty specific oral soft tissue lesions were identified. Nearly t wice as many subjects with diabetes as subjects without diabetes were found to have one or more oral soft tissue lesions (44.7% vs 25.0%; P < .0001). Subjects with diabetes also had significantly higher prevalence rates for 7 lesions, 3 of which were non-candidal: fissured tongue, irritation fibroma , and traumatic ulcers. (Four lesions generally associated with Candida inf ection-median rhomboid glossitis, denture stomatitis, generalized atrophy o f the tongue papillae, and angular cheilitis-will be described in part II o f this article.) There were no differences found between the subjects with diabetes and the control subjects for lichen planus, gingival hyperplasia, or salivary gland disease. Conclusions. Oral soft tissue lesions were seen more frequently in subjects with insulin-dependent diabetes than in the control subjects. Characteriza tion of 3 non-candidal lesions suggests that they are associated with traum a, delayed healing, or both.