‘Dental disease, diabetes linked with each other’

‘Dental disease, diabetes linked with each other’

Pune: Diabetes, the rapidly growing disease which has thwarted generations, is also giving sleepless nights to researchers and doctors working on it. Researchers are not leaving any stone unturned while chasing this disease. One such researcher is Dr Neel Shimpi, a Puneite working as an Associate Research Scientist at Marshfield Clinic Research Institute (MCRI) in Wisconsin, USA. MCRI is among the first medical groups to implement an integrated electronic health record in the United States.

While talking to Sakal Times, Dr Neel, who was in the city recently, said, “Research has shown an association between dental diseases and systemic diseases, for example, diabetes. It has shown that a person who suffers from diabetes is predisposed to what is called as the gum disease. Moreover, periodontal disease is also recognised as the sixth complication of uncontrolled diabetes mellitus.”

“If a person has a prolonged gum disease, he or she can get diabetes,” she added.

“A 2016 literature review conducted on 35 studies reported that about 90 per cent of the adult population in India is affected by periodontal disease,” she said.

Currently, Dr Neel and her team is involved in conducting cutting-edge research including clinical and oral systemic health research surrounding relationship between diabetes and periodontal disease, pregnancy and oral health among others.

Elaborating upon the use of cutting-edge research Dr Neel said, “We are developing clinical decision support tools based on artificial intelligence (AI) that helps the dental and medical providers to understand the risk of a patient for getting diabetes or gum disease based on their pre-existing signs and symptoms for more than six years. AI is poised to become one of the core transformational areas in the healthcare industry that focuses on creating intelligent tools for healthcare providers.”

“Unfortunately, most medical and dental providers are unaware of this connection. Interestingly, in her doctoral work, Dr Neel developed a clinical decision support tool for dentists who can identify patients for developing diabetes based on their mouth condition. The tool showed 88-90 per cent accuracy,” she said.

Dr Neel said, “So far the dental practice has historically been confined to the delivery of oral and maxillofacial care. However, there has been over-pouring scientific evidence which supports the interrelationships between oral and systemic diseases. It has launched a new era that casts dental professionals as central, proactive participants in establishing inter-professional collaboration.”

Dr Neel received her PhD from the University of Wisconsin, USA in Biomedical and Health Informatics. She secured her dental surgeon degree from India and did her masters in healthcare management from Cambridge College of Management in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA and certificate course in clinical research also from the USA.

Dr Neel plans on contributing and expanding her field of expertise in India.

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