The keynote address, “Smoking, Periodontitis and Diabetes,” at the annual Canadian Diabetes Conference held October 26-29, 2011, showed that gum disease can seriously affect blood glucose levels in patients with diabetes. Therefore, dentists and their associates should be an integral component of the diabetes treatment team. Gum problems are a source of inflammatory response and can lead to insulin resistance in people with diabetes, meaning that the chemicals produced by the inflammatory response prevent insulin from This means that the chemicals produced by the inflammatory response prevent insulin from entering the cells to work, preventing the cells from using insulin to consume sugar and causing hyperglycemia. According to newly published studies, people with diabetes are 2-3 times more likely to develop gingivitis and 15 times more likely to experience tooth loss than non-diabetics. The National Health and Nutrition Examination III study found that half of all gingivitis in the United States is caused by smoking or past smoking, so quitting smoking is important for people with diabetes to avoid gingivitis. On the flip side, gingivitis can also lead to tooth loss due to instability. The absence of teeth makes it difficult for diabetics to chew and eat fresh fruits and vegetables, which inevitably leads to eating fast foods that are unhealthy and high in calories, thus affecting blood sugar.