Journal of Dental Medicine

Background and Aims: Dental caries is a multifactorial and common disease that leads to a decrease in the quality of life of individuals. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between serum vitamin D and dental caries in the third year-to-last year students of dental school of Tehran University of Medical Sciences.
Materials and Methods: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 123 dental students. Demographic and health information were completed through a checklist. The level of vitamin D in individuals was measured by blood sampling. We recorded caries by ICDAS (international caries detection and assessment system) in two levels of D(1-6)MFT (total of decayed, filled and missing tooth) and D(3-6)MFT (total of progressive decayed, filled and missing tooth). Data analysis was done by the SPSS package version 25 using statistical tests of correlation and regression.
Results: The results showed that the correlation coefficient between vitamin D and caries index D(1-6)MFT was -0.89 with a P-value of 0.3328 which was not statistically significant. Based on the backward logistic regression, there was a positive significant statistical association between the D(3-6)MFT with vitamin D deficiency (P<0.001), weight (P=0.012), dental visit (P=0.023) and frequency of sweet snack consumption (P=0.03). In addition a significant and inverse statistical association was reported between the D(3-6)MFT and milk consumption (P=0.026).
Conclusion: Among dentistry students, no relation between vitamin D deficiency and early stages of decay was seen, however this relation was statistically significant in regard with progressive dental caries.

Background and Aims: Periodontitis is an inflammatory multifactorial disease in oral tissues and many genetic reasons and environmental factors responsible. Vitamin D deficiency has been determined to be related to periodontal disease. This aim of this study was to investigate the association between rs7975232 polymorphism in vitamin D Receptor gene and periodontitis in 100 patients (as patient and control groups).
Materials and Methods: Blood samples from 50 patients and 50 control groups were selected and DNA from the samples was extracted by the DNA extraction kit. Genotyping was used by Tetra Arms-PCR method. The use of sequencing was confirmed by the Tetra Arms-PCR genotyping results. Then, statistical analysis was performed using SPSS statistics 20 software and T-test.
Results: Frequency of AA, AC, and CC Genotypes were 25 (50%), 14 (28%), and 11 (22%) in patients’ cases, and 26 (52%), 16 (32%) and 8 (16%) in controls, respectively. AA genotype was the highest genotype between the patient and control groups. Statistical analysis showed no significant association between this type of polymorphism and periodontitis disease in the studied samples (P=0.67).
Conclusion: This finding showed there was not significant association between rs7975232 polymorphism in vitamin D Receptor gene and periodontitis disease in the studied samples. To confirm the results of this study, further studies with large sample size and different types of population are recommended.

Background and Aims: Considering the regulatory role of vitamin D3 in the immune system, this vitamin may be able to prevent autoimmune diseases by modulating the immune system, so this study was conducted with the aim of comparison of the serum level of vitamin D3 in patients with oral lichen planus and healthy persons.
Materials and Methods: In this case-control study, the serum vitamin D3 level of 80 people, including 40 patients referred to Guilan dental school who were suffering from oral lichen planus and 40 healthy individuals referred to the laboratory for routine check-up, after matching for age and gender, was investigated. Data based on the type of variable were analyzed using independent t-tests, Mann-Whitney, Chi-square test, and Fisher's exact test using SPSS26 software at a significance level of 0.05.
Results: In this study, 80 person participated, including 29 women (72.5%) and 11 men (27.5%) in each of two groups of patients with an average age of 52.17 ± 12.12 years and healthy people with an average age of 52.10 ± 12.23 years. The average serum level of vitamin D3 in the control group was significantly higher than the case group (P=0.006). There was no statistically significant relationship between the vitamin D3 serum level and different types of oral lichen planus, gender, duration of disease, and age.
Conclusion: Considering the significant lower mean serum level of vitamin D3 in people with oral lichen planus; vitamin D3 may be effective as a supplement in the healing process of patients' lesions.