Vit D and Dental Carries – comment on blog by Grant Feb 2010
      Regarding dental caries, yes, vitamin D does help reduce the number through induction of cathelicidin and defensins, which fight bacteria involved in dental caries and periodontal disease. These two papers can be accessed freely through http://www.pubmed.gov:
      Dunning JM. The influence of latitude and distance from seacoast on dental disease. J Dent Res. 1953;32:811-29.
      East BR. Mean annual hours of sunshine and the incidence of dental caries. Am J Public Health Nations Health. 1939;29:777-80.
      The paper by East looked at the number of caries for adolescent males aged 12-14 years depending on location, with twice as many in the northeast as in the west and directly related to number of hours of sunshine per year.
      The paper by Dunning looked at dental caries at time of entry into the armed forces in WWI and WWII. My analysis of their findings showed that summetime UVB was strongly inversely correlated with number, and urban residence moderately directly correlated.
      For periodontal disease, see this cross-sectional study:
      Dietrich T, Joshipura KJ, Dawson-Hughes B, Bischoff-Ferrari HA. Association between serum concentrations of 25-hydroxyvitamin D3 and periodontal disease in the US population. Am J Clin Nutr. 2004 Jul;80(1):108-13.
      — William B. Grant, Ph.D.