Screening for diabetic patients using gingival crevicular blood with a self-monitoring device in an dental outreach program: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The number of people with diabetes is increasing globally. Undiagnosed diabetes may be present in number of people having periodontitis. Self-monitoring devices, although useful, require a needle puncture. Aim: The aim of this study was to establish whether gingival crevicular blood (GCB) can be used as a noninvasive diagnostic aid in screening for diabetes mellitus during routine periodontal examination. Materials and Methods: The study involved sixty patients based on convenient sampling methodology. Probing depth, bleeding on probing (BOP), gingival bleeding index, and periodontal disease index were recorded. The GCB oozing out of the sites with positive BOP was collected. The capillary finger blood was collected from the pad of the finger. Both the samples were analyzed using a readily available portable blood sugar monitoring device. The data were analyzed using Karl's Pearson's correlation and Student's t -test. Results: GCB glucose levels ranged from 66 to 216 mg/dl with a mean of 137.15 ± 18.36 mg/dl as compared to the finger-prick blood glucose levels which ranged from 86 to 248 mg/dl with a mean of 134.24 ± 16.45 mg/dl. A Pearson's correlation coefficient between the GCB glucose levels and the capillary finger-prick glucose levels showed a very strong correlation with an r = 0.94. Conclusion: The data from this study have shown that GCB collected during diagnostic periodontal examination could be an excellent source of blood for glucometric analysis.