Vitamin D linked to reduction in dental caries
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- Published: Thursday, 06 December 2012 07:32
- Written by News Editor
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A new review of existing studies points toward a potential role for vitamin D in helping to prevent dental caries. The review, published in the December issue of Nutrition Reviews, covered clinical trials since the 1920s on around 3,000 children in several countries. These trials showed that vitamin D was associated with an approximately 50 percent reduction in the incidence of tooth decay.
While vitamin D's role in supporting bone health has not been disputed, significant disagreement has historically existed over its role in preventing caries. The American Medical Association and the U.S. National Research Council concluded around 1950 that vitamin D was beneficial in managing dental caries. The American Dental Association said otherwise - based on the same evidence. In 1989, the National Research Council, despite new evidence supporting vitamin D's caries-fighting benefits, called the issue "unresolved."
Current reviews by the Institute of Medicine, the U.S. Department of Human Health and Service and the American Dental Association draw no conclusions on the vitamin D evidence as it relates to dental caries.
The clinical trials reviewed were conducted in the United States, Great Britain, Canada, Austria, New Zealand and Sweden. Trials were conducted in institutional settings, schools, medical and dental practices, or hospitals. The subjects were children or young adults between the ages of 2 and 16 years, with a weighted mean age of 10 years.
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