Hello November!

So here we are in winter, no point denying it, and if you know me you'll know I LOVE it, dark nights tiny little lights, amazing. This however seems to be the good old cold and flu season (although I can manage to get a particularly spectacular head cold at all times of the year) and people start talking about being 'run down' and needing a bit of a boost, so we reach for the 'Beroca' or some form of Vitamin C or preferably modify our diets to include as many good vitamins as possible to give us a bit of extra protection.

Did you know though how good Vitamin C is for our gums too? I have been recommending to my patients for years that they think about how much vitamin C they have in their diets, and possibly to supplement with something over the counter as necessary (according to the manufacturer guidelines of course) and I think people just think this is something that people in a healthcare profession just say. Vitamin C, be healthy blah blah blah. But today, brace yourself, I'm going to give you a few facts about vitamin C and gums to help you understand that its just not just a bunch of hocus pocus... - if you get this ❤️

To understand how vitamin C works I like to think of it as a battle of good and evil, the light side and the dark side, white walkers and humans etc.

Vitamin C is another name for ascorbic acid and will, amongst other things, protect our cells and keep them healthy - vitamin C is the good guy. To protect our cells from damage vitamin C fights of excessive amounts of ROS in our system. Now ROS or reactive oxygen species if we want to get fancy about it are naturally produced in the body when we breakdown oxygen into carbon dioxide. ROS are important for day to day functioning of the body, too many however, and these can start to damage the body's cells so, the vitamin C comes in, fights the extra ROS and harmony is restored.

Excellent Stuff. Vitamin C will also help maintain healthy skin, cartilage and bone, and help with wound healing. It also, most interestingly to me, helps prevent and slow down the progression of Gum Disease. Nice.

Where can we get our Vitamin C?

Vitamin C is available in a wide variety of fruits and vegetables as we can see in the picture at the top of this post, along with hundreds of other essential vitamins and minerals. If we don't get enough of these in out diets we are at risk of multiple different kinds of health problems. I will link below a clip from This Morning how detrimental restrictive diets without essential nutrients and minerals can be. Just saying.

Some sources of vitamin C include.

oranges and orange juice
red and green peppers
strawberries
blackcurrants
broccoli
brussel sprouts
potatoes

We need 40mg of vitamin C daily. Vitamin C dissolves in water so isn't stored in the body, so we need that 40mg every day without fail. You should be able to get enough vitamin C in your diet by eating the above every day but, you can of course consider a Vitamin C supplement. If unsure about this always consult your doctor and take according to the manufacturer guidelines. There are a multitude of vitamin C supplements available like a Beroca or a similar supermarket own brand, a multivitamin, or a vitamin C only supplement. Absorption rates of this methods can vary, though most of them exceed your recommended daily allowance to account for this.

Looks a bit like an alien, doesn’t taste like one.

At the moment I am taking sachets of Altrient vitamin C - this post is in no way sponsored, I just like it. If you follow me on Instagram you may already have seen me post about this. Basically because this product is liposomal gel, the gel holds the vitamin C and allows it to be absorbed better by the body. Better absorption of Vitamin C gives you more benefits as more of the vitamin C is being used by your body then being flushed through your system, or as I like to call it the green pee situation - if you've taken an effervescent vitamin C tablet before you know the craic. It is also completely Vegan and Gluten Free if this is of interest to you.

I first read about Altrient vitamin C on Caroline Hirons blog which I will link here or on her YouTube channel as I have recently become obsessed with anti aging, but I did feel like I felt healthier all round whilst taking it, call me crazy. Its also however MUCH more expensive than your regular vitamin C so if you are going for a supplement pick one that is in your budget.

But back to the gums, how are Vitamin C and gum health actually linked? Well, most of the research on Vitamin C and Gum Disease has handily been summarised in a systematic review which is a research paper that has looked at the results of all the other research papers, a research paper within a research paper, or an inception research paper if you will. This particular paper that I have looked at is by Acio Tada and Hiroko Miura and was published in May 2019.

As far as our gums are concerned I feel the main take home points are as follows

Patients who have Gum Disease have been proven also to be deficient in vitamin C. They need to get more, pronto, 40mg every single day.
I'll labour this point a little further by stating that patients who had adequate levels of vitamin C tending not to develop Gum Disease in the first place. No brainer.
You will have deeper pocket probing depths if you are deficient in Vitamin C. Remember when we talked about probing depths before? That polo neck effect around the tooth? Just me? This is because Vitamin C helps reduce gum inflammation so the gum stays tighter and closer to the tooth's surface.
Vitamin C reduces the activity of prophoromanas gingivalis - Gum Disease bacteria that is present in plaque - if its less active it causes fewer problems.
Patients who were getting the right amount of vitamin C daily had reduced bleeding scores than those who were deficient in Vitamin C. Happy Days.

So vitamin C is great for the whole body ESPECIALLY the gums. As we said before if you are concerned about Vitamin C you can speak to your GP, you should be able to get these things quite easily from your diet but if you feel like taking an over the counter supplement always follow the manufacturer's guidelines. Not just a bunch of Hocus Pocus after all, your gums ❤️ Vitamin C.

If you would like to speak more about vitamin C, you can visit me at Moira Cosmetic Dental, Bupa Dental Care Glengormley or send me a direct message via my Instagram

https://bmcoralhealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12903-019-0728-2

https://www.ingentaconnect.com/contentone/aapd/jodc/2019/00000086/00000002/art00011

https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/14/2472/htm

https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vitamins-and-minerals/vitamin-c

#vitaminc #healthygums #gingivitis #periodontaldisease #gumdisease #dentalhygiene #dentalhygienist #bleedinggumsarenotnormal