Associations of Serum Vitamin D With Dental Caries and Periodontitis: The HUNT Study

Objective: To study the relationships of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] with dental caries and periodontitis in a general Norwegian adult population. Methods: We analysed a subsample of 1605 participants from the Tr & oslash;ndelag Health Study (HUNT) in Norway that had serum 25(OH)D levels measured in HUNT3 (2006-08) and oral health assessed in the HUNT4 Oral Health Study (2017-19). Negative binomial and Poisson regression models were used to estimate the ratios of means (RMs; for count oral outcomes) and prevalence ratios (PRs; for dichotomous oral outcomes). Results: Serum 25(OH)D was inversely associated with the number of decayed teeth in a doseresponse gradient (<30.0 nmol/L: RM 1.41, 95% CI 1.07-1.85; 30.0-49.9 nmol/L: 1.14, 0.98-1.32 and >= 75.0 nmol/L: 0.84, 0.67-1.04, as compared to the 50.0-74.9 nmol/L group, P for trend <.001). Each 25 nmol/L decrease in 25(OH)D level was associated with a 15% (RM 1.15, 95% CI 1.05-1.26) increase in the mean number of decayed teeth. Serum 25(OH)D <30.0 nmol/L was associated with a 35% higher prevalence of severe periodontitis (PR 1.35, 95% CI 1.00-1.83). No association was observed between 25(OH)D and the number of natural teeth. Conclusion: The present study suggested that serum 25(OH)D level had an inverse and doseresponse association with the number of decayed teeth, and serum 25(OH)D <30 nmol/L was associated with a higher prevalence of severe periodontitis in this Norwegian adult population. (c) 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of FDI World Dental Federation. This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)