By Marc Sorenson, EdD
Periodontal disease (PD) is an insidious malady that has become a pandemic. It attacks the gums and the bones that hold the teeth, and it causes tooth loss; PD, not cavities, is the number-one cause of tooth loss,[1] with approximately 46% of all US adults suffering from the disease.[2]
A recent study showed that bone mass is an independent risk factor in tooth loss secondary to PD in women with intellectual disability,[3] meaning that there could be a common thread running through these three discrete conditions: PD, intellectual disability and low bone mass. Could that common thread be lack of sunlight? It is well-known that bone-mass loss can be mitigated or even reversed by sunlight exposure, as I have often mentioned in my writings on the subject.[4] Treatment with sunlight, then, could reduce one of the major causes of tooth loss. Low vitamin D due to lack of sunlight exposure, has also been shown to correlate closely to PD.[5] PD is also related to other degenerative diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and stroke. Read the discussion in my book (see footnote 5).