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Updated: Aug 20, 2026

Oral Health Assessment by Lay Personnel for Older Adults
Published on: February 2, 2020
Serum vitamin C-periodontal relationship in community-dwelling elderly Japanese
N Amarasena1, H Ogawa, A Yoshihara
1Division of Preventive Dentistry, Department of Oral Health Science, Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, Niigata University, Niigata, Japan.
Objective:
To determine the relationship between serum vitamin C and periodontitis as estimated by clinical attachment loss (CAL) in community-dwelling elderly Japanese.
Material And Methods:
This analysis was confined to 413 Niigata citizens aged 70 years in whom the data for serum vitamin C and CAL were available. High-pressure liquid chromatography method was used to ascertain the serum vitamin C levels while CAL was assessed on six sites of all teeth present including third molars by means of pressure-sensitive probes. Other variables included gender, smoking, toothbrushing frequency, number of teeth present and random blood sugar levels.
Results:
Serum vitamin C concentration was inversely related to CAL (r=-0.23, p<0.00005) at bivariate level. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that CAL was 4% greater in subjects with lower serum vitamin C levels than in subjects with higher serum vitamin C levels notwithstanding smoking, diabetes, oral hygiene, gender or number of teeth present.
Conclusion:
The findings suggested that serum vitamin C might have relatively weak but a statistically significant relationship with periodontitis in this elderly population.
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