Diabetes and Oral Health - Short Course

Program Overview

This hybrid short course provides an overview of periodontitis and type 2 diabetes, emphasizing the collaborative role of the healthcare team in ensuring optimal patient outcomes. It covers the prevalence, signs, and impacts of both conditions, highlighting their bidirectional relationship. It is accredited for 10 hours of CPD points and includes a live session and formative quizzes to assess understanding.

Program Outline

Degree Overview:

This hybrid short course is aimed at the entire healthcare team who have contact with those living with diabetes. The course will also consider the role of the healthcare team in caring for patients with diabetes and practical advice with regards to their oral wellbeing. Periodontitis is a chronic, non-communicable disease that affects around half the world’s adult population, with its severe form affecting approximately 11% of adults. It can have a significant psycho-social impact on patients as well as functional and nutritional consequences, limiting patients' ability to eat, smile and speak. There is a 3 fold increased prevalence of periodontitis in people living with diabetes. it is important that community and primary care health providers know what periodontitis is, the signs, symptoms and simple advice they can offer to support those newly diagnosed with diabetes or those people living with diabetes who are unaware of the oral health connection. The growing burden of type 2 diabetes is well documented. The World Health Organisation reported that globally more than 422 million people had diabetes in 2014. In 2019, diabetes was the ninth leading cause of death with an estimated 1.5 million deaths directly caused by diabetes. Further to the associated mortality and morbidity are the significant economic costs associated with the type 2 diabetes. This short course explores the evidence and potential management strategies to help in the treatment of people living with diabetes. The course is primarily aimed at healthcare professionals who may have contact with patients living with either periodontitis or diabetes.

Outline:

The course content is structured into five modules:

• Module 1: What is Periodontitis
• Module 2: Diabetes (type 2)
• Module 3: Periodontitis & Type 2 Diabetes
• Module 4: The Role of The Healthcare Team in Identification, Prevention & Management of Diabetes & Oral Healthcare advice for Patients with Diabetes
However, there is a formative quiz at the end of each section to help identify knowledge gaps.

Teaching:

The course is delivered online and includes 10 hours of content plus a live session. The course is delivered by a team of experts from the School of Dentistry and Diabetes Consultants within the West-Midlands:

• Miss Zehra Yonel: Clinical Lecturer in Restorative Dentistry, School of Dentistry
• Professor Michael Milward: Director of Education for the College of Medical & Dental Sciences
• Professor Iain Chapple: Head of Research for the Institute of Clinical Sciences
• Dr Amar Puttanna: Diabetes and Endocrine Consultant in the West Midlands
• Dr Rajeev Raghavan: Diabetes Consultants within the West-Midlands
This will include but not be limited to:
• Diabetes specialist nurses
• Practice nurses
• Healthcare assistants
• General practitioners
• Pharmacists
• Diabetologists
This course may also be of benefit to oral healthcare professionals wishing to update their knowledge, including:
• Oral health educators
• Hygienists and therapists
• General dental practitioners
The course is accredited for 10 hours of CPD points. Upon completion, participants will receive a certificate of completion confirming hours of completed study.