Prevalence of Undiagnosed Diabetes and Prediabetes in the Dental Setting: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

With the close link between diabetes mellitus (DM) and periodontal disease (PD), dentists have an unrealized opportunity to make a chance discovery of a patient's medical condition. Unlike in the medical setting, information on the point of care (PoC) and opportunistic screening for DM in the dental setting is limited. To make a reliable estimate on the prevalence of undiagnosed type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and prediabetes among dental patients in the dental setting and to assist healthcare planners in making an informed decision, information on the disease frequency and strategies employed to address this issue is of paramount importance.

To summarize the data on the prevalence of undiagnosed T2DM and prediabetes amongst dental patients and further explore the effectiveness of the PoC screening and its implication for use in the dental setting.

A MEDLINE-PubMed, EMBASE, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library search was conducted with no time specification. Information on study characteristics and diagnostic parameters was retrieved for meta-analysis. All the studies were assessed for methodological quality using the QUADAS-2 tool. Proportions were presented in tables and forest plots. All statistical analysis was performed using the MedCalc software.

Nine studies met the inclusion criteria. The proportion of dental patients identified to be at a risk of hyperglycaemia with the PoC screening using random blood glucose (RBG) and HbA1 was 32.47% and 40.10%, whilst the estimated proportion with undiagnosed T2DM and prediabetes was identified as 11.23% and 47.38%.

A significant proportion of dental patients can be identified as undiagnosed T2DM and prediabetes. Targeted opportunistic screening is a feasible approach and can help reduce the prevalence of undiagnosed T2DM and prediabetes.