Research Description
Oral diseases are a challenging complication for people with diabetes. Consequently, people with diabetes are more likely to lose teeth, potentially all their teeth as they age. Compared to other diabetes complications such as heart disease, oral complications of diabetes are not life-threatening or likely to result in blindness or amputation. However, oral diseases are very common; more than half of the US diabetic population has periodontitis, or inflammation around the teeth, and one-third has untreated tooth decay. Oral inflammation can interfere with blood sugar control for people with diabetes. Nevertheless, oral disease can be prevented by practicing good oral self-care. Unfortunately, despite the increased risk for oral diseases, patients with diabetes do not see the dentist as often as people without diabetes. Also, they are less likely to practice recommended oral self-care, such as flossing, than people without diabetes. Diabetic populations with the greatest burden of oral diseases are racially diverse patients with less education, low income, lacking dental insurance or living in areas where dental services are hard to find. This study is to develop and test a digital technology-assisted oral health education and self-care intervention (DiaOral). A behavior change oral self-care program delivered through primary care will help patients with diabetes prevent and control oral complications of diabetes. If successfully implemented and integrated within the electronic health record system in primary care, DiaOral potentially will reduce oral health disparities, promote oral health equity among patient with diabetes and improve their diabetes self-care and quality of life.Research Profile
What area of diabetes research does your project cover? What role will this particular project play in preventing, treating and/or curing diabetes?People with diabetes experience significant oral health disparities and those with low income are often the most at risk. My research focuses on reducing such disparities by promoting oral self-care as an important part of diabetes self-management to prevent oral complications of the disease. This particular project aims to develop the DiaOral program, a new web-based oral health education and self-care intervention program, that can be readily accessed and used by patients with diabetes in primary care. Developing DiaOral is important as it is a low-cost, potentially impactful program to be used by patients with diabetes to prevent oral diseases, improve glycemic control, and improve quality of life.
If a person with diabetes were to ask you how your project will help them in the future, how would you respond?The DiaOral project will help people with diabetes better understand why they need to pay more attention to oral health as part of managing their diabetes. It will teach what signs to look for to identify an oral issue before it becomes a serious problem. The program will be designed to help people improve daily oral hygiene practice and become more confident and competent in seeking preventive dental services. Eventually, the skills learned from this program will hopefully help people with diabetes have better oral health and retain more teeth when they get older.
Why important for you, personally, to become involved in diabetes research? What role will this award play?As a nurse, I recognize the importance of self-care in managing chronic conditions. Especially for people with diabetes, the optimal health outcomes cannot be achieved without patients’ active participation in their own care. As a nurse scientist, I also see how nurses play an important role in educating patients about diabetes self-management. Having this award will help me become a nurse scientist and leader in developing and demonstrating the value of preventive oral self-care and assisting oral behavioral change for patients with diabetes. My work will provide important information for nurses to deliver oral health education as an integral part of diabetes self-care management in primary care.
In what direction do you see the future of diabetes research going?From my perspective, diabetes care has evolved from a medical-centered paradigm to a patient-centered paradigm with attention to complex patient needs such as those related to social and economic factors. Therefore, the direction of the future of diabetes research will continue moving from a disease-focused direction to a broader, more holistic direction, including how socioeconomic factors, health policies, the food industry, and environmental factors all impact the high rates and consequences of diabetes in our society.