The Sunshine-Vitamin Deficit in the Athlete's Mouth: Vitamin D Levels May Influence the Effectiveness of Orthodontic Tooth Movement, Risk of Root Resorption and Retention

Abstract

Approximately 56% of athletes suffer from low vitamin D levels due to a combination of reasons, including indoor training, high latitude, lack of UV-B radiation in winter, and energy deficit in sports. Furthermore, active 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D directly modulates the RANKL/OPG system that is required for alveolar remodeling in OTM [6,8,9].

The purpose of this work is the combination of the information about vitamin D deficiency in athletes with existing data from human and preclinical studies concerning the influence of vitamin D on OTM and investigation of whether the levels of 25(OH)D in serum are the common factor affecting orthodontic outcomes in active people.

For the analysis of data, a systematic narrative review using the databases PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, Embase and Cochrane has been carried out.

According to small RCTs on human subjects, vitamin D may promote OTM (SMD≈1.43, very low certainty, large CI; [1]) although there is no data for EARR. Studies on animals support the hypothesis of tension side consolidation [15]. While vitamin D deficiency in athletes is highly prevalent but treatable, there is currently a complete absence of direct clinical data-zero published studies worldwide-evaluating OTM, EARR, or retention specifically within vitamin D-deficient athletic cohorts, leaving the clinical impact of secondary hyperparathyroidism entirely unquantified.

Serum 25(OH)D is a relatively simple and inexpensive variable which unites sports nutrition and orthodontics. There should be more targeted research on specific groups of athletes to prove the hypothesis about possible deficiency as a variable.