Last Updated on August 15, 2020 by Ellen Christian
My husband has diabetes. When he was younger, he was a football player and was in great physical shape. He lifted weights and was very active. One year, he hurt his back moving wood. That injury resulted in steroid injections, several failed surgeries and a lifetime of chronic pain. Now that my husband is disabled, he has gained weight and is not in the best physical shape. His diet was never fantastic to begin with but when he was active, he was able to keep his weight in check. This weight gain has resulted in high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type 2 diabetes.
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Diabetes and Oral Care
Did you know that according to the CDC, people with diabetes are two times more likely to develop gum disease? Colgate Total and the American Diabetes Association launched a new campaign called “Watch Your Mouth!” to help raise awareness surrounding the often-overlooked link between oral health and diabetes. There are a few simple steps we can take to help prevent early gum disease:
- Make sure you visit your dentist. While your doctor and certified diabetes educator play an important role in helping with your diabetes, so does your dentist.
- Follow healthy dental habits at home. Research shows that brushing twice a day with Colgate Total® toothpaste can help improve gum health in as little as four weeks.
Marty wasn’t encouraged to have good oral care habits when he was a child so he never brought good habits with him as an adult. He has had many of his teeth pulled because of this and that is something I want to make sure doesn’t continue to happen for him. I also want to make sure that my kids take good oral care habits with them as they grow up.
Now that Marty understands how important being healthy is, he is taking small steps to improve his overall health. One of those steps is to pay attention to his oral care. He understands how important that is to how he feels and having a lot of teeth pulled and getting used to wearing dentures wasn’t a pleasant experience for him to go through. The infographic below has some interesting statistics on diabetes and oral care. I had no idea that the rate of gum disease was so high in people with diabetes. Marty is making sure that he pays much closer attention to his gum health now.
Finally, check out these tools to manage your diabetes.
Please take a moment to read the infographic below and learn more about Diabetes awareness and oral care.
Ellen is a busy mom of a 24-year-old son and 29-year-old daughter. She owns six blogs and is addicted to social media. She believes that it doesn’t have to be difficult to lead a healthy life. She shares simple healthy living tips to show busy women how to lead fulfilling lives. If you’d like to work together, email info@confessionsofanover-workedmom.com to chat.
Outstanding post with so many great informative facts. So many people are not aware that Diabetes can effect your gums, it is very important to take care of your oral care daily.
Wow, lots of great information here, much of which I never knew. Thanks for sharing!
Good to know. Wasn’t aware of this information.
Very important information to get out! Both my father and FIL are Type 2 diabetics, even though they’ve always maintained a healthy lifestyle. Sometimes there’s just nothing you can do. This year they may both be getting toothbrushes and toothpaste in their Christmas stockings as a reminder of this!
It’s amazing how the human body works. Everything is really tied into healthy habits (eating, hygiene, etc.).
I have a few family members with diabetes, theses are some great tips.
Thanks for sharing these interesting facts!
My father and I are both diabetics so I find this information to be very useful and very important. I will definitely take better care of my oral health from now on.
Wow, these are very interesting facts that I wasn’t aware of .
SO much of our health is related to good dental hygiene!! we cannot over look
I never knew that they were more likely.
Diabetes runs in my family on both sides so this is great information!
Great tip! My mom has Diabetes! I’ll pass the info along to her!
This is an important message! We are big on not only clean teeth but proper oral hygiene care. This post is great!
Wow, that’s crazy that there’s such a connection!! Just one more reason to practice good oral hygiene.
What a great post and a lot of people always overlook the oral care when they have diabetes.. great reminder; Colgate is my brand of choice, too always has been and always will be because it works!!
So much great info… I remember my father had horrible teeth and his doctor said it was because of his diabetes… ugh
I didn’t know that diabetes raised your risk for gum disease. I’m going to share this information with my dad and my husband’s parents, who are all diabetic.
I didn’t realize people with diabetes are at higher risk for gum disease. I’m glad Colgate is raising awareness because so many people live with diabetes these days.
My aunt has diabetes so I like learning as much as possible to help.
Thanks for sharing because this is really important. Good oral care is important to so many aspects of our health.
My Dad is a diabetic. I am going to send him this info as a reminder to make sure he has great oral health.
I never knew that people with diabetes are two times more likely to develop gum disease. I have learned something today.
I didnt realize that dental issues were associated with diabetes. Good to know…we have a history of it in our family!
Great info, thank you for this!
I had no idea that people with diabetes were more likely to develop gum disease. Diabetes runs in my family. This is all so good to know.
Great reminder for those with Diabetes especially but all of us really. Good oral care is connected to health is so many other areas of life.
I always enjoy reading all the great facts you include with your posts and I learned some new things reading this one too. Thanks for all the tips.
This is great information, I had no idea there was a connection. Thanks for sharing this!
Very informative post. I really like the infographic too.
I have heard this before, thanks for the statistics and information in the post, always good to be aware and prepared!
I have so many family members with diabetes and there is so much to be aware of that people don’t realize.
These are great facts for us to be aware of
Very interesting facts. My husband has gingavatis and because we did not have dental insurance he now has upper and soon to have lower dentues.
Interesting facts and great information! I’m a stickler for instilling good oral care habits in my children and ensuring my husband and I invest, as well. It is key to your overall health and totally worth the time, dollars and energy!