Exploring interrelationships between diabetes and periodontal disease in African Americans.

Population-based data on interrelationships between diabetes and periodontal diseases among African Americans are limited. This article is an overview of our knowledge regarding the bidirectional relationship between diabetes and periodontal diseases and a descriptive analysis of data from the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES III), focusing on the diabetes-periodontal diseases interrelationship in African Americans. Results of the analysis are consistent with the current body of evidence supporting a bidirectional relationship between diabetes and periodontal diseases and indicate generally poorer periodontal health and glycemic control among African Americans. The results also indicate significantly lower dental care use in dentate African Americans with diabetes than in the US non-Hispanic white population with diabetes.