Monday, September 14, 2009

Could Diabetes be Caused by Periodontal Pathogens

We know that diabetes is multi-factorial. We have known since at least the 1970’s that diabetes and gum disease are related. We see more gum disease in diabetics and more diabetes in people with gum disease. A diabetic has a poorer healing response, so it would seem to follow that people with diabetes would defend themselves against gum disease wounds with less success than a non-diabetic. And dentists have been comfortable enough in that belief to treat diabetics more aggressively when the signs of gum disease appear.

But isn’t it possible that the insulin insufficiency diabetes, (the pancreas does not produce enough insulin), is being CAUSED by the same pathogens that might be causing pancreatic cancer, perhaps a less virulent strain? Remember the spirochetes that Dr. Nordquist implicated in coronary artery disease? Isn't it possible that another species of spirochetes could be attacking the pancreas? Shouldn't we be treating periodontal disease as if we could prevent chronic diseases of the rest of the body? It would seem to me that we should.

Gregory L Sawyer DDS

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