Those who brush their teeth three times a day or more have a lower risk of diabetes, according to a new study.
Frequent brushing can lower the chances of developing diabetes by 8%.
Additionally, the presence of dental disease is linked with a 9% risk increase – and this stands at 21% for those missing 15 teeth or more.
This comes as research shows dental teams could help to improve rates of diabetes detection.
Results were different for adults 51 and under and adults 52 and older, however.
When compared to those who brushed their teeth once a day or not at all, the younger group had a 10% reduced risk of developing diabetes by brushing twice a day.
This increased to 14% when brushing three times a day.
Lower risk
In the older group, there was no difference in risk between those brushing twice and those brushing once or not at all.
On the other hand, brushing three times a day links with a 7% drop in risk.
The study analysed data collected by the National Health Insurance System-Health Screening Cohort (NHIS-HEALS) in Korea between 2003 and 2006.
It looked at more than 188,000 subjects.
The research was carried out by Dr Tae-Jin Song of Seoul Hospital and Ewha Woman’s University College of Medicine, alongside other authors.
