Periodontal disease, oral microbial flora and salivary antibacterial factors in diabetes mellitus type 1 patients.

One hundred and thirty-one patients with diabetes mellitus type 1 (IDDM) and 20 healthy controls were checked for the presence of periodontal diseases and for some oral microbiological parameters. Results demonstrated that IDDM patients, who were well compensated from both the metabolic and clinical point of view, showed a prevalence for periodontopathies, which only differed slightly from controls. Only the presence of gingivitis was significantly higher in IDDM patients than in healthy subjects. Both anaerobic and aerobic microbial flora did not show substantial differences for either group. Among the salivary antibacterial factors studied, lysozyme was significantly decreased in diabetic patients compared to controls. It is concluded that IDDM patients undergo periodontal complications with a frequency quite close to that of non-diabetic healthy subjects, when the disease is under strict metabolic and clinical control.