BMJ  2007;334:600 (24 March), doi:10.1136/bmj.39156.523750.FA

Letters

Dry mouth

Don't forget diabetes

There is one glaring omission in the 10 minute consultation on dry mouth: nowhere can I find mention of diabetes.1 In my experience, dry mouth is one of the most useful early symptoms of maturity onset diabetes. If a patient complains of a dry mouth I immediately reach for my blood glucose monitor before I start checking for iron overload.

Ian D Rubenstein, general practitioner

Eagel House Surgery, Enfield EN3 4DN

prime{at}eaglehousesurgery.com

Competing interests: None declared.

References

  1. Taubert M, Davies MR, Back I. Dry mouth. BMJ 2007;334:534. (10 March.)[Free Full Text]

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Relevant Article

Dry mouth
Mark Taubert, Eleanor M R Davies, and Ian Back
BMJ 2007 334: 534. [Extract] [Full Text] [PDF]

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