Diabetes Care From The Dental Chair, sponsored by Corsodyl, outlines the INDICATE-2 study (Introducing Diabetes Checks in the Dental Setting), a major UK initiative led by the University of Birmingham and funded by Haleon.
The study establishes a care pathway for dental teams across 50 practices to screen routine patients for diabetes and pre-diabetes using blood tests and the DDS score (Diabetes Risk in Dentistry Score). Because people often visit the dentist when they feel healthy rather than sick, dental chairs present a unique “cold face” opportunity to diagnose conditions early.
Watch Episode 2 via The Probe’s YouTube channel:
Also available on Spotify:
In this episode we explore:
- The Screening Imperative & Patient Reach: Explores why dental practices are ideally positioned to act as frontline screening hubs, reaching populations who may rarely visit a GP but attend regular dental check-ups.
- The Oral-Systemic Connection Reinforced: Further investigates the bi-directional relationship between periodontal health and glycemic control, emphasizing how early intervention in the dental chair can disrupt this vicious cycle.
- Chairside Point-of-Care Testing: Details the practical implementation of point-of-care HbA1c finger-prick testing and risk questionnaires during routine dental appointments to catch undiagnosed prediabetes and diabetes early.
- Workflow & Seamless Integration: Demonstrates how dental teams can incorporate diabetes screening directly into existing medical history reviews and routine check-ups with minimal disruption to clinical workflow.
- Interprofessional Referral Pathways: Outlines the critical link between dental professionals and general practitioners (GPs), ensuring high-risk patients are smoothly transitioned to primary medical care for formal diagnosis and treatment.
The series gathers insights from the following prominent health leaders, researchers, and frontline professionals:
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Professor Iain Chapple – Key lead researcher instrumental in bringing the study to life at the University of Birmingham.
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Dr. Zehra Yonel – Clinical researcher from the University of Birmingham who coordinates the practice-based network.
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Jason Wong – Chief Dental Officer for England.
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Dr. Nigel Carter – Former Chief Executive of the Oral Health Foundation.
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Abbi Castle – Lead Community Care Coordinator at OBEX Dental (sharing Frontline primary care team perspectives).
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Adam Sisson – Vice President and Head of Oral Health Research at Haleon.
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Anne – A patient who was successfully diagnosed with type 2 diabetes directly from a dental screening test.
Missed the series so far? Watch episode 1 here:
