Highlighting  importance of managing oral care alongside diabetes

Begins outreach across 100 towns and villages in India to provide access to blood sugar screening through dental clinics

India, 2021: Colgate-Palmolive, the market leader in oral care in India, and Roche Diabetes Care India (RDC), a world leader in integrated personalised diabetes management, have partnered to fulfil their commitment to creating a comprehensive ecosystem of oral care for better diabetes management. This World Diabetes Day, the two companies have designed and launched a unique programme called ‘Smile Check, Diabetes Check’, a first-of-its-kind initiative to address, identify, and highlight the importance of oral care in overall diabetes management.

Colgate’s oral care expertise and extensive network combined with RDC’s vast expertise in the field of health diagnostics and clinical science aims to bring attention to the bidirectional link between diabetes management and oral health management.

Keeping in line with the theme of World Diabetes Day 2021-23— ‘Access to Diabetes Care’, the unique partnership will enable better access to diabetes management through blood sugar screening and education at dental clinics across the country. As part of the collaboration, RDC will provide Accu-Chek test kits to dental clinics spread across 100 towns and villages in India. The dental clinics will be enabled to conduct blood sugar screening using these devices. This initiative was kick-started on World Diabetes Day 2021 nationally and is foreseen to be expanded to major towns and cities in the coming months.

According to IDF Diabetes Atlas, India ranks #2 across the world with a whopping number of approx. 77 million diabetics in the country1. Prominent research institution in the field of Diabetes—Research Society for the Study of Diabetes in India (RSSDI), and a leading oral health institution—Indian Society of Periodontology (ISP), in a joint study on the link between diabetes and oral health, found that oral care solutions in addition to lifestyle changes are crucial in overall diabetes management.2