The Effect of Vitamin D and/or Calcium Supplementation on periodontitis

Abstract

Objective: To perform a systematic review and assess whether the use of vitamin D and calcium supplements can benefit the prevention of periodontitis and tooth loss among adults and elderly. Method: Research of MEDLINE, LILACS, Cochrane Library, Scopus and ClinicalTrials.gov and reference lists of relevant papers to identify experimental and observational studies on the effect of vitamin D and/or calcium supplementation on clinical parameters of periodontitis. Primary outcomes were clinical attachment loss (CAL), probing depth (PD) and tooth loss. Results: Four studies were included. Meta-analysis across studies showed a standardized mean difference (SMD) of –0.194 (95% CI: –0.777 to 0.389) and –0.168 (95% CI: –0.736 to 0.400) for CAL and PD, respectively. Conclusion: Vitamin D and calcium supplementation seem to have some beneficial effect on clinical parameters of periodontitis as a complementary therapy. However, these findings need to be confirmed before being used in clinical practice.