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Background: Brush cytology is an accepted technique that gets renewed interest. It is now used as an aid for thediagnosis and observation of possible epithelial changes that could be associated with oral mucosal diseases. Thisstudy aimed to evaluate the cytomorphometric changes in gingiva and buccal mucosa of type II diabetics and toassess their relation to oral symptoms and glycemic status.Materials and methods: Cytological Papanicolaou stained smear were prepared from cheek and gingiva of 20 nontreated cases, 20 treated diabetics and 20 healthy persons of both sex after measuring their HbA1c and recordingtheir oral symptoms. Hundred unfolded epithelial cells were evaluated qualitatively using MCID software to measurenuclear and cytoplasmic areas, ratio, perimeters, and form factors. Different statistical analyses were used todetermine relations between studied parameters.Results: Diabetics smears showed large nucleus, small cytoplasm, and small cytoplasm/nucleus ratio compared withhealthy persons with no sex variation. Xerostomia and burning sensation were significantly correlated with nuclearparameters, while HbA1c was significantly correlated with both cytoplasmic and nuclear parameters. Well-controlledpatients showed reduction in nuclear area, but nucleus and cytoplasm form factors were unlike normal.Conclusions: Oral cytology from type II diabetics is associated with detectable cytomorphometric changes that isbetter demonstrated in buccal than gingival mucosa and tend to return partially to their normal values in wellcontrolledpatients, with no sex variation. NA seems to be the main parameter that changed during hyperglycemiaand xerostomia, while both NA and CA were related to burning sensation

type II diabetes mellitus --- cytomorphometry --- gingiva --- xerostomia