Diabetes and dental care providers may greatly contribute in the early detection of oral diseases and diabetes, respectively, and in the prevention of complications of diabetes. However, there is limited collaboration and referrals between these two groups of health professionals.
Objective: To investigate whether diabetic providers are addressing the importance of oral care in the management of diabetes and whether dental care providers are advising their patients with diabetes about the importance of glycaemic control.
Method: Descriptive statistics was used to report data collected from 720 patients with diabetes using a closed-end questionnaire. Logistic regression analysis revealed the factors significantly impacting whether participants received advice from healthcare providers.
Results: The majority of participants did not receive advice from either diabetes (84%) or dental (75%) care providers regarding the reciprocal nature of diabetes and periodontitis. The factors significantly affecting receiving advice from diabetes care providers were place of residence (p = 0.003), self-reported type of diabetes (p = 0.000) receiving advice from dental care providers (p = 0.000); from dental care providers - education (p = 0.020), place of residence (p = 0.004), the number of years since diagnosis of diabetes (p = 0.002), frequency of dental visits (p = 0.000) and receiving advice from diabetes care providers (p = 0.000).
Conclusion: Diabetes and dental care providers in Mauritius are not addressing oral health care as an essential component of diabetes care. Patients with diabetes are neither being advised about the importance of regular dental visits by their treating doctor, nor about the importance of glycaemic control in the prevention of oral complications by their dentist.
Keywords: Mauritius; diabetes; diabetes complications; glycaemic control; health promotion; oral health.
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