Study Reveals Routine Periodontal Care is an Integral Component of Diabetes Management and in Reducing Health and Economic Burdens

Previous research has implied that there is a direct correlation between diabetes mellitus (DM) and periodontal disease. Additionally, when patients obtain treatment for periodontal disease, there may be diminished costs attributed to diabetes care.

In a recently published study in The Journal of the American Dental Association, researchers sought to assess the correlation between overall healthcare costs for diabetes mellitus and the treatment of periodontal disease.

For this study, between 2013 and 2019, researchers screened IBM MarketScan Research Databases to obtain de-identified Medicaid and commercial insurance administrative claims data that included overall costs related to outpatient costs, inpatient costs, and drug costs for those patients with diabetes.

From 2017 to 2019, the assessment was restricted to individuals aged 21 through 64 years who were continuously registered.

Patients were divided into treatment groups and control groups for both Medicaid and commercial insurance groups based on information from dental claims for the treatment of periodontal disease between 2017 and 2018.

The authors indicated that the primary outcome measures for this study were the assessments of outpatient prescription medication costs and outpatient and inpatient healthcare costs.

Results indicated that diminished overall health care costs of 12% compared with no treatment among those with commercial insurance were linked with periodontal treatment. Among those in the Medicaid cohort, compared with patients with DM without treatment, periodontal treatment was correlated with a 14% reduction in costs. The authors also indicated that additional cost savings were found as the number of periodontal treatments increased.  Additionally, the authors noted that with regard to inpatient costs for those with commercial insurance or drug costs for those with Medicaid, there were no noteworthy variances between the two cohorts.

Authors wrote, “In our study of both commercial insurance claims and Medicaid data, we found that periodontal treatment in the 2 years before 2019 was associated with a significant decrease in overall health care costs in 2019 for patients with DM. These results are consistent with those from prior studies that showed a reduction in healthcare costs after periodontal treatment for patients with DM.”

The authors indicated that obtaining treatment for periodontal disease was correlated with considerable decreases among both those with Medicaid and commercial insurance claims with regard to overall costs and outpatient health costs with respect to diabetes care, and the most noteworthy variance was observed among those with Medicaid.

“Inpatient costs did not decrease significantly within the commercial insurance cohort, and drug costs did not decrease significantly within the Medicaid cohort. A healthy mouth can play a key role in a DM management program. Expanding Medicaid benefits to include comprehensive periodontal treatment has the potential to reduce overall health care costs for patients with DM.”, concluded the authors.

Reference

Thakkar-Samtani M, Heaton LJ, Kelly AL, Taylor SD, Vidone L, Tranby EP. Periodontal treatment associated with decreased diabetes mellitus-related treatment costs: An analysis of dental and medical claims data. J Am Dent Assoc. 2023 Feb 23:S0002-8177(23)00022-3. doi: 10.1016/j.adaj.2022.12.011. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36841690.