Periodontal diseases and diabetes are both chronic diseases that become more common as people get older. About 80% of people aged over 35 suffer from some kind of gum problem and about 7% of the population suffers from diabetes, although in many cases this goes undiagnosed.

​There are strong associations between the two diseases. Indeed, there is a two-way (bidirectional) relationship between periodontal disease and diabetes. This means that people with periodontitis have a higher risk of diabetes and patients with diabetes are three times more likely to develop periodontal disease.

On top of that, controlling diabetes is more complicated when a patient also has periodontitis, and people who have both diabetes and periodontitis are at greater risk of suffering some severe medical complications – including cardiovascular disease, chronic kidney disease, and retinopathy – than people who have diabetes alone.