Finally The A1C Is New Standard In Type 2 Diabetes Diagnosis

We’ve written volumes about the A1C as the gold standard for a long-term blood sugar level chart. It’s important in dentistry because it’s so closely related to a higher risk of gum disease in people who have diabetes and who also have difficulty maintaining a normal blood sugar count. Now, the American Diabetes Association has just given the A1C new prominence in prevention, screening and diagnosis for type 2 diabetes.

There are some real advantages to using the A1C. First of all, you don’t have to fast in order to take the test – you can do it at any office call. Another plus is that it gives you more than a snapshot of your day to day blood sugar control – it gives you an overall picture of your average blood sugar range for the past 90 days.

Because a glucose molecule that attaches itself to a red blood cell never leaves, it’s a sure-fire way to track glycated red blood cells over their life span, which is about 90 days. The new ADA guidelines adjust the diagnosis categories a bit, calling it diabetes at a blood sugar reading of 6.5 percent and above. The former cutoff was 7. A blood sugar range of 5.7 – 6.4 is now termed an increased risk for diabetes. It used to be known as prediabetes.

Fortunately, there’s some very good scientific evidence that a specific dental therapy can reduce your A1C levels substantially. Scientists at the University of Sao Paolo-Ribierao Preto in Brazil found that scaling and root planing can drop nearly a full point off your A1C level. When combined with antibiotic therapy, A1C levels dropped by a point and a half.

You can bet there’s a Dentistry For Diabetics^SM dentist somewhere doing this procedure nearly every single day. Put your A1C in the hands of a Dentistry For Diabetics dentist who is extensively trained in the interactions between type 2 diabetes and gum disease. Follow this link to find a Dentistry For Diabetics ^SM dentist near you who knows how to lower blood sugar.