A collaboration between Treeline Dental Care and the University of Birmingham trialled routine diabetes testing in a dental setting.
The dental profession has long understood the role their teams can play beyond simply improving a patient’s oral health. With this in mind, the Treeline Dental Group based in the Midlands has been exploring how the dental care professionals (DCP) teams in its dental practices can support research aimed at helping detect conditions such as diabetes.
Treeline Dental Care has been partnering with the University of Birmingham research team in this ground-breaking national research project. Type 2 diabetes (T2D) and non-diabetic hypoglycaemia (NDH) (pre-diabetes) carry a major economic and health burden to our nation – and dental teams, who see patients regularly and who are trained to advise on diet and lifestyle risk factors, can play a significant role in early detection.
How does the diabetes test work?
The University of Birmingham’s INDICATE-2 study, a research initiative funded by Haleon, aims to build on the original INDICATE study by determining the prevalence of previously undiagnosed NDH and T2D in 10,000 patients attending 50 dental practices (NIHR, 2023).
Using a validated questionnaire followed by an HbA1c finger-prick blood test, Treeline’s dental teams aim to identify individuals at risk of diabetes using data routinely collected in a dental setting (Yonel, 2022). The pilot study found that nearly 15% of patients who perceived themselves as healthy, actually had HbA1c levels indicating pre-diabetes or diabetes.
Treeline manages the workflow of this initiative largely through DCP team members. Jimmey Palahey, Treeline’s co-founder, has been keen to embrace alternative opportunities for his teams above their day-to-day clinical work – and this commitment to the group’s staff has been warmly received.
Based at Treeline’s Lincoln dental practice, Jo Rodd, the group’s deputy lead and a qualified dental nurse has been charged with overseeing the patient testing programme feeding the data back to the University of Birmingham’s research team. Jo and her team are aware of the value of the findings that Treeline is able to provide, because when it comes to the intersection between diabetes and dentistry, there is a well-established link between diabetes and periodontitis. Effective periodontal treatment can help reduce diabetes complications.
Putting the mouth back in the body
Jo Rodd, deputy lead and a qualified dental nurse at Treeline Dental Care, Lincoln, said: ‘We are very grateful to our patients at Treeline for embracing the research. It’s been a fascinating journey as we work with the research team. We have had fantastic feedback from our teams who can see that they are making a real difference to local communities.
‘We have been embracing the message with patients about ‘putting the mouth back in the body – good oral health and good general health are closely intertwined. Enabling the research is of course hugely motivating, but also supporting patients with diabetes to establish good general and oral health practices is wonderful.’
Jimmey Palahey, co-founder at Treeline Dental, said: ‘In the spirit of “making every contact count”, I was keen to maximise the role our dental teams could play in furthering general health research as well as exploring the intersection between certain diseases and oral health. It makes sense because we see patients on a regular basis for dental appointments, and so we were delighted to be able to support the University of Birmingham’s studies.
‘It is hugely rewarding to be working with recognised research institutions. Moreover, taking on the opportunity to support this ground-breaking research is the right thing to do. As dental care professionals we have a duty to put patients before profit, and I believe looking for opportunities to give our teams varied and progressive career paths enhances the reputation of our staff and clinics.’
References
- INDICATE-2 study (NIHR 63817). INDICATE (NIHR 300171)
- Yonel Z, Kocher T, Chapple ILC, et al. Development and External Validation of a Multivariable Prediction Model to Identify Nondiabetic Hyperglycemia and Undiagnosed Type 2 Diabetes: Diabetes Risk Assessment in Dentistry Score (DDS). Journal of Dental Research. 2022;102(2):170-177
