RESUMEN
AIM: The study aims to correlate salivary glucose, blood glucose levels and oral colony forming units of Candida albicans and to evaluate whether saliva can be used as noninvasive means to measure glycemic status in type II diabetics without the need for the invasive procedure. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study included 100 type II diabetic patients (group I) of both genders with age 40 years and above and100 healthy patients (group II), age and sex matched with the study group. Group I includes uncontrolled and controlled diabetics as groups IA and IB, respectively. Salivary glucose measurement was done using the enzymatic colorimetric method and blood glucose levels measured by doing venepuncture and centrifuged. The oral candidal carriage was calculated by incubation in Sabouraud's dextrose agar supplemented with chloramphenicol and incubated aerobically for 48 hours. To compare the mean values Z test was applied. To determine the relationship between two variables Pearson's correlation coefficient was used. RESULTS: The salivary glucose levels showed a significant correlation with blood glucose levels. The salivary candida carriage was higher in uncontrolled as compared to controlled diabetics and healthy individuals. CONCLUSION: Positive correlation was obtained between salivary glucose and blood glucose in diabetics and candidal carriage has a positive correlation with blood glucose levels. This salivary glucose and blood glucose levels correlation confirms its use to find glycemic status in diabetic patients. CLINICAL SIGNIFICANCE: The positive correlation of salivary glucose with blood glucose shows that it can be utilized as a noninvasive tool for monitoring glycemic status in diabetic patients.