Diabetes Dental Health Fairfax Northern Virginia
If you are one of the millions of Americans who has diabetes, you want to entrust your dental work and oral health treatments to a dental practice that understands your unique needs. At our Northern Virginia practice serving Fairfax, Arlington, and surrounding communities, Dr. H. Charles Jelinek and his staff cater to patients with diabetes, tailoring their dental treatments to their unique oral health needs.
Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common endocrine disorders resulting from dysfunctions in the normal insulin mechanism. When it comes to diabetes and dental health, it is important that dental practitioners distinguish between the two types of diabetic patients.
Type I diabetes, also known as insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, is characterized by the absence of insulin secretion. In regard to oral health and diabetes, several studies have indicated patients with type 1 diabetes to have more severe and extensive manifestations of periodontal disease. Moreover, patients with type 1 diabetes experience periodontal disease at a much higher rate than non-diabetics.
Type 2 diabetes, or non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, exhibits some of the same characteristics in regard to diabetes and dental health. Several controlled studies have indicated type 2 diabetes in connection with periodontal disease. In fact, subjects with type 2 diabetes tended to display a greater loss of alveolar bone mass.
Most often, diabetic patients display several oral manifestations including acetone breath, oral soft tissue dehydration (dry mouth), swollen gingiva, alveolar bone loss, and tooth ache. For these reasons, diabetic patients at the Northern Virginia dental practice of Dr. H. Charles Jelinek are treated with special consideration. For example, we plan appointments around your personal schedule. Diabetic patients at our practice are often given priority schedules for the morning so that they are not kept waiting. If a diabetic patient wears dentures, we never dismiss them without a careful check for pressure points.
Please contact our Northern Virginia dental practice to find out more about how diabetes can affect your dental health. If you have diabetes and are worried about oral health, please visit our dental office serving patients from Fairfax, Arlington, McLean, Tyson’s Corner, Vienna, Alexandria, and surrounding areas.
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