Introduction

The aim of the Perio & Diabetes project, a collaboration between the European Federation of Periodontology (EFP) and Sunstar, is to promote awareness of the important links between periodontal diseases and diabetes explaining how these two diseases can be fought together.

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.

The Perio & Diabetes project provides guidelines that explain the links between these two diseases and the steps that should be taken by:

• Oral-health professionals;
• Medical professionals and pharmacists;
• Researchers;
• Policymakers;
• Patients and the public;
• The media.

The project also includes graphic and video materials, concise reports that explain the science behind the guidelines, and a full bibliography.

The Perio & Diabetes project has been created from evidence-based science and the conclusions of the Perio-Diabetes Workshop held by the EFP and the International Diabetes Federation, in partnership with Sunstar, in Madrid in February 2017.

All the materials provided here – the recommendations, the graphic and video material, the scientific reports – have been created by an expert team based on the detailed scientific papers produced by this workshop and published in the EFP’s Journal of Clinical Periodontology.

The scientific experts responsible for the content of Perio & Diabetes are Filippo Graziani, Iain Chapple, Mariano Sanz, Evanthia Lalla, Henrik Dommish, and Francesco D’Aiuto.

They have been assisted by Sharon Legendre (EFP head of operations), Paul Davies (EFP editorial and content co-ordinator), Santi Quiñones (EFP communications co-ordinator), Gonzalo Herrero (design), and Canterbury Web Services (website).

The EFP thanks Sunstar for its unrestricted grant that has made possible the creation of Perio & Diabetes.