Do you have a family history of diabetes? Have you been screened for the condition recently?

If not, you may find that your first screening is done in the dentist’s office. That’s right.

A new study has shown that diabetes screenings in the dental chair could prove as effective at diagnosing the common disease as the traditional finger stick in the doctor’s office.

In order to perform this study, the research team double tested seventy-five patients. Each participant had blood samples collected from a finger stick and then via pockets formed as a result of periodontal swelling.

Each test looked for elevated hemoglobin A1c counts. Classically, doctors would be looking for levels over 6.5, which suggests the patient is within the diabetic range.

However, after this study, it was found that the oral samples were equally as effective at diagnosing the disease, with a count of 6.3 being the equivalent of a 6.5 from the finger stick blood samples.

Does this mean that dental patients could soon face diabetic screens while in the dental chair?

It very well could be the case, as many experts feel that this could provide a form of screening that many patients would consider less invasive than the traditional method.

It also provides medical professionals one more way to detect diabetes early, which means that patients can receive treatment plans earlier and prevent (or at least prolong) the more serious complications related to diabetes.

For more information about the study and the researchers behind these findings, keep reading the full article.