GUMS, TEETH AND VITAMIN C
Dietary experiments with monkeys have now clearly established that vitamin C helps to prevent inflammation and recession of the gums. Even when the vitamin C shortage is not severe enough to cause any other signs, normally harmless trauma leads to redness, swelling, bleeding and “pocket” formation of the gums around the roots of the teeth.
Of course, the Journal of the American Medical Association (246:730) points out, it has been known for hundreds of years that swollen, bleeding gums are major features of scurvy, the disease caused by a severe shortage of vitamin C. The importance of these new findings, however, is that unhealthy receding gums can result from such a minor shortage of vitamin C that it is hardly severe enough to be called a deficiency. The trouble is that once your gums have shrunk down to expose the roots of your teeth, no amount of supplementary vitamin or anything else can make them grow back again. Here is another good reason for taking extra vitamin C.
The Journal of the American Dental Association (107:253) reports the case of a 30-year-old woman that illustrates this danger very well. Several back teeth on one side of her mouth (the side on which she chewed) had become severely eroded and broken down, a condition that was readily understandable in view of her history of chewing three vitamin C tablets every day.
Chewable vitamin C, therefore, is best avoided by everyone except those who have a complete set of dentures, both lower and upper.
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