Impact of oral vitamin D supplementation on first tooth eruption of jordanian premature infants

Abstract EN

Objective: To elucidate the impact of oral vitamin D supplementation on the time (early versus late chronological age) of first tooth eruption in premature infants.

Method: A total number of 110 Jordanian preterm infants (gestational age < 37 weeks, and birth weight < 2500 g) who were born and attended the neonatal follow up clinics at Prince Hashim Ben AI-Hussein and Queen Alia Military Hospital / Jordan from April 2012 till March 2014, were included and randomized into three main groups:- A-preterm infants who were fed exclusively breast milk without extra Vitamin D supplementation, B-preterm infants who were fed exclusively special preterm formula containing 400 IU vitamin D/100mg, but not supplemented with extra oral vitamin D.

C-preterm infants who were fed exclusively special preterm formula containing 400 IU vitamin D/100mg and additionally supplemented with 400 IU of oral vitamin D.

A first tooth eruption record was completed by the principal neonatologist and the parents of the enrolled infants during the annual clinic visits.

Results: A total of 110 premature infants (50 males, 60 females,) were included in this study.

44 preterm infants were of gestational age < 32 weeks at birth, and 66 were> 32 weeks gestation at birth.

61 premature babies had a birth weight < 1.5 kg, and 49 had a birth weight> 1.5 kg.

Early tooth eruption occurred in 83 of the total 110 studied preterm infants (32, 24, and 27 infants from groups A, B, and C respectively), and 27 (8, 11, and 8 infants from groups A, B, and C respectively) have had late first tooth eruption.

The mean number of breast fed infants with early tooth eruption ( who had the least content of vitamin D in milk ) is significantly more than the means of the other two groups (P - value = 0.036 ).

The mean number of infants in the three groups with late tooth eruption is not significantly different (P- value = 0.269).

Comparing the breast fed infants with different gestational ages, and different birth weights with the infants in the other two groups in respect to early versus late first tooth eruption, no statistically significant effect of increased vitamin D content more than the breast milk content could be found.

Conclusion: There is clear evidence that extra supplementation with oral vitamin D has no effect on the time of first tooth eruption of premature infants.