Diabetes mellitus and oral disease

The oral complications of diabetes mellitus are generally considered to be no more than inevitable annoyances and, as such, have been the subject of r elatively few scientific and clinical studies. This review highlights both the known correlations between oral disease and diabetes mellitus, such as those involving supporting tissues and oral mucosa, and those that are stil l a matter of debate, such as dental caries. In all cases, we carefully ana lyzed the pathogenesis of the disorder with a view to establishing a possib le therapeutic approach, an aspect that currently appears to be overlooked. In view of the fact that the treatment of certain oral conditions, in part icular periodontal disease, has been reported to improve metabolic control in diabetic patients, we conclude that diabetes mellitus-related oral disea ses deserve adequate recognition and further investigation.