Oral hygiene is an important etiological factor related to oral health status in children. The aim of the study was to evaluate the oral hygiene status in children with type I diabetes mellitus (DM) and in their non-diabetic controls, and to correlate it with the health condition of the gingival tissues.
Materials and methods: Seventy 10-15 year-old children (mean age 13.6, SD=1.6) with type I DM and 70 their age and sex-matched non-diabetic controls were included in the study. The metabolic control of DM was categorized into well- to- moderately controlled and poorly-controlled diabetes groups based on glycosylated haemoglobin HbA1c. The oral hygiene and gingival status were assessed using the Simplified Oral hygiene index OHI-S (Greene-Vermillion) and gingival index GI (Löe-Silness), respectively. Student's t, Mann-Whitney U or chi-square tests and linear regression were used in the statistical analyses.
Results: There were no statistically significant differences in the mean values of OHI-S between the diabetics and non-diabetics, however the mean calculus index (CI-S) was significantly higher and the mean plaque index (DI-S) was significantly lower in diabetic subjects than non-diabetics (p<0.05). The children with type I DM had significantly higher mean values of GI compared with the non-diabetic subjects (0.15, SD=0.37 and 0.05, SD=0.19 respectively) (p<0.05). Healthy gingiva was recorded in 73% diabetics, and 87% of the non-diabetics (p<0.05). The poorly controlled diabetics had higher mean gingival, plaque, calculus indices than well-moderately controlled subjects, although the differences were not statistically significant. Statistically significantly higher mean OHI-S index was found in children with poor control of diabetes compared with the well-moderately-controlled diabetics (1.39, SD=0.75 and 1.07, SD=0.53, respectively) (p<0.05). The level of gingivitis statistically significantly correlated with the levels of calculus in both study groups (p<0.001). No difference in toothbrushing habits was revealed between the study subjects.
Conclusion: Despite similar oral hygiene habits, the children with type I DM were more prone to calculus accumulation which seemed to be a predisposing factor in development of gingivitis in these individuals.