Common diabetes drug could treat gum disease and aid healthy ageing, study claims

A new method of controlling inflammation and sugar levels to prevent oral and systemic diseases using a common diabetes drug has been discovered by a team of researchers at King’s College London.

In their latest post on Journal of Translational Medicine, a team of researchers in the School of Dental, Oral & Craniofacial Sciences has found new ways to stop periodontal (gum) disease and potentially reduce the incidence of diabetes and obesity. This new approach focuses on controlling inflammation and sugar levels in both the mouth and the body with a common type 2 diabetes drug, metformin.

Periodontal (gum) diseases are remarkably common worldwide and are closely related to systemic diseases such as diabetes and obesity. Lifestyle choices, such as increased sugar intake, are a common cause of gum disease, as well as diabetes and obesity. Diabetes, obesity and gum disease develop throughout our lives, but gum disease has the potential to be diagnosed first, as it can start as early as age 30.

The only treatment strategy currently available to treat gingivitis is a deep cleaning of the teeth to rid the mouth of bacteria, as well as the prescription of antibiotics. But this treatment does not protect against the continuation and development of systemic diseases, such as diabetes and obesity.

Metformin, a drug capable of regulating sugar metabolism, is a drug commonly used to manage diabetes, but is not commonly used in dentistry. The researchers found that metformin resulted in significant prevention of bone loss during induced periodontal disease and age-related bone loss in vivo (in living mice). The research team tested the use of this drug in patients with gingivitis without diabetes in the first clinical trial. The trial showed improved clinical results in treating gum disease and controlling sugar levels and inflammation in the mouth and body, even at high levels of bacteria.

Using this new method to prevent gum disease would also help control weight gain and sugar levels, potentially proving a new solution for preventing systemic and oral diseases. Metformin is a cheap medicine in the UK and worldwide and costs £0.04 per tablet at market price. Researchers say this treatment could be implemented at an even lower cost if provided by the NHS.

Lead author Dr. Vitor Neves, academic clinical lecturer and secretary of periodontics, says: “Our patients don’t often have tools to fight gum disease other than brushing their teeth, but for the first time we have a potential tool that can help not only with gum disease, but general health.

“Metformin is readily available around the world and is cheap, so it allows the drug to be used as a preventive medicine for oral and systemic diseases that could be adopted on a global scale. This would help many to age healthier – starting with care from their mouths.”