What’s the link between vitamin D, gum health, and diabetes?

Gum disease, diabetes, and vitamin D share deep links.

Diabetes, as many people realize, is a growing problem in the United States and globally.

In 2015, almost 1 in 10 adults were estimated to have diabetes. There are about 1.5 million new diagnoses each year in the U.S.

While there are certain well-known risk factorsfor diabetes, such as obesity and high blood pressure, there is still more to learn.

Diabetes is complex and involves multiple systems.

Uncovering the full range of potential risk factors could help prevent diabetes from occurring in some individuals and help others manage symptoms more effectively.

Recently, a team at the University of Toronto in Canada investigated the potential influence of vitamin D deficiency and periodontitis, a gum infection.

Diabetes and periodontitis

They chose to look at gum disease because earlier studies had shown that diabetes increases the risk of periodontitis, which is a bacterially induced inflammatory disease that can damage soft tissue and bone.

This relationship is bidirectional, meaning that periodontitis also makes management of type 2 diabetes more challenging.