A trial of ascorbic acid and of multivitamin supplementation on the oral health of West African children

Abstract

204 children between the ages of 1·5 and 6·5 years living in a West African village where the incidence of gingivitis and bleeding gums is about 40% of the population at the end of the rainy season, were given vitamin C or a placebo for 69 days, followed by a multivitamin supplement or placebo for 47 days. The condition of their gums was continuously monitored by trained field workers and by a paediatrician during the supplementation period, and was also assessed in greater detail by the paediatrician at the beginning and end of each treatment period. No benefit of either type of supplement could be detected, either on incidence of bleeding, or on over-all severity of gingivitis, although there was a clear-cut seasonal trend towards lower incidence of bleeding in both groups as the study progressed.