The Women who have low vitamin D levels during pregnancy are more likely to have babies who develop tooth enamel problems, which can lead to tooth decay, new Canadian research says.

Researchers from the University of Manitoba examined data from 135 babies between the ages of seven and 16 months. They found that 21.6 per cent of them had tooth enamel defects and 33.6 per cent had early childhood tooth decay.

Mothers of children with tooth decay had significantly lower vitamin D levels than mothers of children with healthy teeth.

As well, mothers of children who had enamel problems had slightly lower vitamin D levels during pregnancy than mothers of children without enamel problems.

The researchers found that having enamel defects significantly increased the risk of developing tooth decay.

The findings were presented Friday at the General Session of the International Association for Dental Research in Toronto.

For their study, the researchers analyzed data from pregnant women in their second trimester. Only 10 per cent of them were deemed to have adequate levels of vitamin D, which is defined as 80 nanomoles per litre.

The mean vitamin D level among the women in the study was between 24.4 and 48.1 nanomoles per litre.

Women in the study who drank more milk and took pre-natal vitamins had higher vitamin D levels.

This is the first study to analyze vitamin D levels during pregnancy and how they might influence a baby’s early dental health.

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