A comparison of the microbiological flora in the oral cavity of type II diabetes mellitus versus non-diabetic adult dental patients

Abstract

Diabetes mellitus predisposes to oral disease through alterations of oral microflora accompanied by a drop in host’s immunity. A comparison of oral microflora isolated from saliva and plaque specimens of 30 diabetic and 30 non-diabetic dental patients was made. A case was defined as a male or female dental patient, aged 18 years or older and having type II diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Any association between demographics and oral health status of recruited patients, and the occurrence of T2DM, was tested for using Chi-Squared and Independent Samples T-Test. Culture-based methodology was used to count and identify cultivable oral bacteria and Candida species from specimens. Normality of data was tested by means of Q-Q plots, Mann-Whitney U-Test used for significance testing and multivariate regression analysis then carried out. Power analysis to enable future studies was also done. Counts of suspected Lactobacillus species (pathogenic) were significantly higher in diabetics – p-value 0.013, whilst counts of non-pathogenic Neisseria species were significantly higher in non-diabetic counterparts – p-value 0.046. With regards to mycological flora, the predominantly isolated microorganism was Candida albicans but its counts did not vary significantly between diabetics and non-diabetics. The majority of organisms identified in saliva were also identified in plaque. Occurrence of T2DM in recruited dental patients was not influenced by demographics or oral health practices. No statistically significant difference in oral health status of diabetics and non-diabetics recruited for this study was observed. This study was successful in detecting significant quantitative differences in the oral microflora of diabetics versus non-diabetics.