A pilot study comparing dental plaque in type 2 diabetes mellitus and healthy individuals - a surface enhanced raman spectroscopy analysis

Abstract Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a prevalent systemic condition known to impact oral health by increasing susceptibility to periodontal diseases. This pilot study aimed to assess the biochemical composition of dental plaque in T2DM patients compared to healthy individuals using Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS). Twelve subjects (6 diabetic and 6 healthy), matched for age, gender, and body mass index (BMI), were enrolled. Dental plaque samples were collected and analyzed on SERS-active substrates. Peak intensities corresponding to carbohydrates, lipids, amides, and sugars were compared. Statistically significant differences were observed in amide I and II peaks (p < 0.05), suggesting altered protein content in diabetic plaque biofilms. However, differences in lipid (p = 0.06), carbohydrate (p = 0.13), and sugar (p = 0.8) peaks were not significant (marginally exceeding the threshold p value). Further, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) analysis supported the inferences from Raman studies. FFT analysis indicates that for lipids and sugars the p-values are slightly higher than the threshold value (of p = 0.05), so one could assume that the differences between these for both the groups are also significant. These findings suggest that SERS as a promising tool for characterizing compositional changes in oral biofilms associated with systemic conditions such as T2DM. Larger-scale studies are needed to validate these findings.