Wednesday 20 April 2011

Dental Problems and Type-1 Diabetes; Is There a Link?

Monday afternoon I took my type 1 son to have 2 cavities fixed and we're back there again tomorrow to have another 2 cavities dealt with. 4 cavities at the last cleaning, and 2 at the cleaning before that. It seems that every time we go to the dentist, my 10 year old has new cavities, and yet his brother and sister do not. So it got me thinking, is there a connection between type-1 diabetes and increased dental problems?


We all know that type-1 diabetes can lead to a number of pretty scary side effects, especially if not controlled well, but in all my D reading over the years, I can't recall ever seeing a direct connection between type-1 diabetes and cavities. So I decided to do a bit of research on the web, and found that while there are countless articles on increased risk of gum disease in diabetics, there doesn't appear to be a definitive connection with diabetes and cavities. 


All 3 of my kids have basically the same dental care routine. None of them are perfect, but they're good enough for the most part, and yet only my type-1 child is prone to cavities. Perhaps he doesn't brush as thoroughly, or maybe he's simply just got "bad" teeth, if there is such a thing. But it's really got me thinking now, is there a direct connection between type-1 diabetes and increased cavities?

1 comment:

  1. I am 19, For the past 6 years i have had diabetes and at each dental check up i have cavitites, over the last year i had developed 7 cavitites. A year later i am now going back as i think i have 2 more. I brush and floss 2 times a day and have perfect healthy teeth, yet i get cavitites all the time. I don't understand it at all, All i get told is its because you're a diabetic

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