Oral mucosal lesions in non oral habit diabetic patients and association of diabetes mellitus with oral precancerous lesions

AIMS: This study was aimed to determine the prevalence of oral mucosal lesions (OML) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and non-diabetic subjects without any oral habits and to investigate the association of DM with oral precancerous lesions.
METHODS: This cross-sectional study involved 420 diabetic and 420 non-diabetic control subjects without any oral habits. Detailed oral examination was performed based on international criteria.
RESULTS: A significantly greater proportion of subjects with DM (45%) had one or more OML in comparison to non-diabetics (38.3%). Patients with DM showed a significantly greater prevalence of geographic tongue, denture stomatitis and angular cheilitis than non-diabetics (p<0.05). The results also showed an association between occurrence of one or more OML and metabolic control of diabetic patients (p<0.05). For precancerous lesions, lichen planus was found in two diabetic patients while none of controls had any precancerous lesion (p>0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Prevalence of OML was significantly higher in diabetic patients than non-diabetics and this prevalence was associated with the metabolic control of the patients. However, no association was observed between DM and oral precancerous lesions.