Could dentists carry out routine screenings for diabetes?
A new care pathway where high street dental surgeries will conduct routine screenings for type 2 and pre-diabetes is being rolled out across the UK.
Funding was secured from Haleon by the University of Birmingham, alongside support of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre (BRC).
This comes as a patient was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes after a routine oral health check-up revealed alarmingly high blood sugar levels. Ann Christian, 50, from Birmingham, has voiced her support for the new healthcare pathway.
The screening involves a simple questionnaire to assess the patient’s diabetes risk, followed by a finger-prick blood test.
Thirty eight practices across England have now been recruited to the INDICATE-2 study. Dental teams across the network have received the green light to commence the risk-assessment process on consented participants.
The study will then expand to include practices in Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland.
Ann said: ‘I really do think it’s an excellent idea to have dental teams help to identify patients who are at risk of diabetes or who already have diabetes but they’re not controlling it in the best way.
‘I’ve always felt that medical care can be too pigeon-holed. I think this is a fantastic way to improve people’s health in general.’
Diabetes prevalence
Jason Wong, chief dental officer for England, said: ‘It is vitally important that medical and dental care pathways become more joined up, to put patients at the centre of all we do. INDICATE-2 is a great example of a study aimed to try and define one such pathway.’
Dr Zehra Yonel is a clinical lecturer in restorative dentistry at the University of Birmingham’s dental school. She added: ‘This exciting collaboration with Haleon will allow us to determine the actual prevalence of pre-diabetes and type-2 diabetes within a larger, more representative population sample and assess the feasibility of scaling this approach nationally.
‘We’ve received incredibly positive feedback from those patients like Ann who have experienced the advantages of dentists being able to conduct such tests.
‘This next step will allow us to further explore the patient journey and identify barriers or challenges in the care pathway from oral health professional to general medical practitioner (GP) and back to the dental team.’
Follow Dentistry on Instagram to keep up with all the latest dental news and trends.