Physiologic Cortisone-Glucose Tolerance Pattern: The Development of Blood Glucose Normality by Analysis of Oral Symptoms

¹ Section on Oral Medicine, University of Alabama School of Dentistry, Birmingham, Alabama

A study of the cortisone-glucose tolerance patterns of 170 patients with and without gingival tenderness, xerostomia, and stomatopyrosis showed only a significant difference of the 2-hour determinations in those subjects with and without gingival tenderness. The constellation of gingival tenderness, xerostomia, and stomatopyrosis appeared to be more represenetative of the diabetic patient's complaints than any one or other combination of these three symptoms. In general, the classical glucose-tolerance test delineated the symptomatic versus the asymptomatic subject more sharply than did the cortisone-modified procedure. One report, to follow,¹⁹ will analyze a number of extraoral symptoms (commonly associated with the diabetic state) and carbohydrate metabolism as measured by the cortisone-glucose tolerance test. A second report,²⁰ to be released, will review the oral symptoms discussed here in terms of the fasting blood glucose derived during the cortisone-glucose procedure.