How diabetics should protect their teeth

  Middle-aged and elderly diabetic patients, who are prone to periodontal disease, control of diabetes is an important prerequisite for achieving effective periodontal disease treatment; conversely, if the patient’s periodontal infection is effectively controlled, the amount of medication used for diabetes will be reduced. In addition, maintaining a healthy periodontium may also prevent heart attacks. Researchers have found that diabetics with severe periodontal disease are two times more likely to die of heart disease or kidney failure than those without periodontal disease. Therefore, it is important for diabetics to take care of their teeth.  Patients should first lower their blood sugar levels, and periodontal disease treatment when blood sugar is high is highly likely to recur after a period of improvement. Routine treatment of periodontal disease should be performed at breakfast and 1.5 hours after taking medication. Treatment should be done in several steps to minimize the damage to periodontal tissues and avoid infection. Since diabetic patients usually have a dry mouth and reduced saliva, which affects food digestion and also makes the oral cavity less able to resist infection, adequate anti-infection treatment should be given after periodontal disease treatment.  The second is to insist on doing dental care exercises: after waking up in the morning, perform 30 times of dental air-bite exercise, the first 20 times for rapid impact bite, and the last 10 times for strong continuous bite, in order to improve the bite force of chewing muscles, stimulate the root and alveolar bone, and increase its bone density. A clean index finger can also be used to massage the gums, and the inner and outer gums can be lightly massaged with the thumb and index finger to promote periodontal microcirculation and enhance mucosal resistance.