title: Can gingival crevicular blood be relied upon for assessment of blood glucose level?
abstract: Diabetes mellitus (DM) is undiagnosed in approximately half of the patients actually suffering from the disease. In addition, the prevalence of DM is more than twice as high as in patients with periodontitis when compared to periodontally healthy subjects. Thus, a high number of patients with periodontitis may have undiagnosed DM. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate whether blood oozing from a gingival crevice during routine periodontal examination can be used for determining glucose levels.
  
  
  METHODS
  Observational cross-sectional studies were carried out in 75 patients (43 males and 32 females) with chronic periodontitis who were divided into two groups: Group I and Group II, respectively. Blood oozing from the gingival crevices of anterior teeth following periodontal probing was collected with the stick of glucose self-monitoring device, and the blood glucose levels were measured. At the same time, finger-prick blood was taken for glucometric analysis and subsequent readings were recorded.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The patient's blood glucose values ranged from 74 to 256 mg/dl. The comparison between gingival crevicular blood and finger-prick blood showed a very strong correlation, with a t value of 3.97 (at P value = 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The data from this study has shown that GCB collected during diagnostic periodontal examination can be an excellent source of blood for glucometric analysis.
authors: Shivani
authors: S
authors: Dwivedi
authors: Sharmila J
authors: SJ
authors: Verma
authors: Monali
authors: M
authors: Shah
authors: Kapil
authors: K
authors: Jain
mesh_terms: D001786:Blood Glucose / Q000032:analysis*; D015190:Blood Glucose Self-Monitoring / Q000295:instrumentation; D002196:Capillaries; D055113:Chronic Periodontitis / Q000097:blood*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003920:Diabetes Mellitus / Q000097:blood; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005385:Fingers / Q000098:blood supply; D005883:Gingival Crevicular Fluid / Q000737:chemistry*; D005884:Gingival Hemorrhage / Q000097:blood; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D015203:Reproducibility of Results
chemical_list: D001786:Blood Glucose