Screening for diabetes risk using the diabetes risk test and point-of-care hemoglobin A1C values in adults seen in a dental clinic.

This article focuses on the feasibility and outcomes of screening for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) risk among adults attending an urban northeastern U.S. dental school clinic using the American Diabetes Association (ADA) diabetes risk test (DRT) and point-of-care (POC) hemoglobin A1C (A1C) testing. In a cross-sectional study of 13,519 patients without prior diabetes diagnosis, 35.3% were identified as at risk for T2DM based on DRT scores, with risk increasing with age, male sex, and higher body mass index. Among the 9.8% of at-risk patients who consented to A1C testing, 40.2% showed dysglycemia (A1C ≥ 5.7%), including 34.9% with prediabetes and 5.3% with diabetes. The study demonstrates that integrating diabetes risk screening and POC A1C testing into dental clinic workflows is practical and can aid in identifying undiagnosed dysglycemia, supporting interprofessional collaboration for early diabetes detection and management.