Is Oral Hygiene Connected To Gestational Diabetes?

Filed in archive Research on September 29, 2006

We've heard it all our lives: brush at least twice a day and floss every night. This is to keep our Choppers healthy of course, but now researchers believe that poor oral hygiene can affect more than our mouths: it may lead to gestational diabetes.

Periodontal disease, in particular, seems to be the culprit.

Periodontal disease (a chronic mouth and gum disease) is caused by poor oral hygiene. Gestational diabetes is a form of type 2 diabetes which develops during pregnancy in 2% to 5% of women. It may also be caused by metabolic changes that occur due to the effects of hormones in pregnancy.

According to the NHS, gestational diabetes is usually diagnosed during the 24th to 28th week of pregnancy. The disease essentially makes the body unable to produce enough insulin which puts both the mother and the unborn baby in danger of injury and/or falling ill.

The study included 256 pregnant women, but researchers have not given specifics on whether or not the results are more than merely correlative.