Do you suffer from a vitamin D deficiency? Check your dental X-rays to find out
Your dental X-rays hold a permanent record of Vitamin D deficiency and can help you prevent further damage
Now, your dentist may be able to detect vitamin D deficiency before it becomes a major problem, according to a recent study. Vitamin D deficiency is a serious but often hidden condition that can now be identified by a simple dental X-ray, as McMaster anthropologists Lori D’Ortenzio and Megan Brickley have found. It is especially significant since low levels can also indicate risk of multiple sclerosis in women.
The researchers and their colleagues had previously discovered that human teeth hold a detailed and permanent record of serious Vitamin D deficiency, or rickets. That record takes the form of microscopic deformities in dentin, the material that makes up the mass of the tooth, and can be extremely valuable for understanding precisely when people, even those who lived centuries ago, were deprived of sunlight, the main source of Vitamin D.
The record is preserved by enamel, which protects teeth from breaking down, unlike bones, which are subject to decay. The problem with looking for such deformities is that a tooth must be cut open to read the patterns that form a lifetime’s Vitamin D record, and the supply of post-mortem teeth available for study is limited.
