Discover How Dental Teams Can Play a Pivotal Role in Identifying Diabetes in a Patient

a dentist and his team of assistants looking over a patient’s X-rays and charts

As you undergo dental assistant training, you will discover that problems developing within the mouth can often be signs for other issues occurring throughout the body. When certain oral symptoms are displayed, you may discover that an underlying issue is a cause, one of which might be Type 2 diabetes. Spend some time learning just how pivotal dental teams can be in identifying this type of problem while providing patients with the help they need.

What Dental Problems Can Signal Possible Diabetes?

If a patient comes in with severe periodontitis (gum disease), this should be your first indication that they may also have diabetes. The reason is that there is a common link between the two that involves poorly managed glycemic levels and oral health. Since diabetes causes blood vessels to thicken, making it harder for the body to process nutrients from tissues in the oral cavity, this weakens the immune system and allows for infections to develop. Thus, bacteria forms and attacks the soft oral tissues causing gum disease.

Why Dental Teams Are Important

If someone is unaware that they have Type 2 diabetes but are showing concern for their gum health, a dentist and their team who are knowledgeable and skilled at understanding how the mouth and body are interconnected will be much easier to identify the possibility of diabetes being present. As a result, not only will it make it possible to better treat gum disease, but it will also provide the patient with invaluable information about their overall health and, in turn, speak to a doctor about treatment.

By establishing relationships with healthcare physicians, dental teams can begin to collaborate with medical doctors on ways to most effectively treat a patient with Type 2 diabetes and gum disease. Because it requires proper management of blood sugar levels, it is important that patients understand how both diabetes and gum health are related and when one worsens or improves, so will the other.

While you may still be in dental assisting school, it would be advantageous to seek out additional information about the connection between diseases in the mouth and how they correlate with issues throughout the body. By talking to your peers, teachers, and licensed dentists, you can be better equipped to help patients in the future who may not know they have additional health problems.

About Dental Assistant Pro
For more than 25 years, Dental Assistant Pro has been providing aspiring dental assistants with essential knowledge and hands-on skills learning. Our philosophy is the best dental assisting training should be taught in a dental office at an affordable cost, so why not take a chance and enroll in our 10-week course schedule? You’ll learn how to work within a dental office setting, how to properly sterilize and disinfect tools and equipment, and how to assist in looking for problems that extend beyond the mouth. To learn more about us, visit our website or call (513) 515-6611.

Next Class Starts Soon

Days
Hours
Minutes
Seconds

Classes are filling up quickly.

Cost & Payment Options

  • Class Schedules
  • Current Cost & Payment Plans
  • Financial Options
  • Low Tuition (so everyone can afford it)

GET PROGRAM DETAILS

Reviews From Our Students

Kenzie Clark
Kenzie Clark
13. August, 2022.
Great experience!!
kaitlyn mcgarvey
kaitlyn mcgarvey
13. August, 2022.
Quick easy way to get a dental assistant certificate. Quick way to get into the dental field. More job opportunities opened after I received the certificate. Also received radiology license from class. Instructor is easy-going & bubbly personality.
Kaitlyn Waits
Kaitlyn Waits
13. August, 2022.
Enjoyable, quick program to get into a dental office. I'm looking forward to starting my new career
Sydnee Burgess (Syd)
Sydnee Burgess (Syd)
13. August, 2022.
It was a great experience! I was very nervous about dental and wasn’t sure how much I’d like it but through this experience I feel a lot better about going into the field. Jeanie who is the instructor is also a very warm person and truly cares for each of her students and their growth in the field.
Abby Morehouse
Abby Morehouse
11. May, 2022.
Such an amazing program! Would recommend this to anyone looking for a career in dentistry.
Lilly Collins
Lilly Collins
7. May, 2022.
Had an amazing experience as a student in the Lebanon program! The instructors Abby and Jeanne are amazing and have taught me so much from skills to job search, i will be forever grateful for their help and this experience.
Kaitlyn
Kaitlyn
7. May, 2022.
Dental Assistant Pro is a wonderful program! The instructors, Jeanne and Abby, are very welcoming and do a great job at teaching their students. This program teaches you all of the basics and allows you to enter at an entry level dental assisting position at any Office. It was very convenient having classes only on the weekends and was so much fun!
Megan Sellman
Megan Sellman
7. May, 2022.
I went to Dental Assistant Pro from 7:30am-12pm, Jeanne and Abby made the program very fun and enjoyable! I learned a lot from this program and they made it easy to learn.
kiranpreet kaur
kiranpreet kaur
7. May, 2022.
I am only 18 and a Dental assistant now. I went to Dental Assistant Pro at Lebanon. It was a wonderful and thorough program. Jeane and Abby made it so easyyy to accomplish my goal. I learnt a lot in this program- X-rays, impression, diagnostic caste model and a lot of other things. Hands on training, awesome experience!!!!! Loved it 😊