Which Deficiency Causes Bleeding Gums?

Are you seeing red? If you see a pinkish or reddish tint when you brush your teeth, you may wonder if you need to schedule a visit with your dentist. 

That’s probably a very good starting point. Ensuring your dental care is up-to-date and that you aren’t suffering from periodontal issues is paramount in determining what’s causing your toothpaste to blush.

Once you’ve ruled out gingivitis, gum disease, or any other type of oral health issue that could be the culprit, it’s time to consider vitamin deficiency. Being deficient in certain vitamins and minerals can cause side effects like tenderness in the gums and bleeding. While these deficiencies are typically uncommon in the United States, it is possible to have them.

We’ll discuss the most common deficiencies that can lead to bleeding gums and how you can correct them. We’ll also discuss a more common deficiency, C15:0, that many of us have and how you can easily restore your C15:0 levels. 

What Causes Bleeding Gums?

Your dentist is the first stop on your journey to discovering why your gums are bleeding. It’s important to rule out the most common causes of bleeding gums, which are poor oral hygiene, toothbrushes with hard bristles, periodontal disease, and buildup of tartar along the gum line.

Simply improving your dental hygiene by getting regular cleanings to avoid a buildup of plaque, using a soft-bristled toothbrush, and being a bit more gentle when brushing can make a huge difference. These practices may even eliminate the cause of your bleeding. 

However, if your dentist says you have healthy gums, you are getting regular checkups, and you still experience bleeding, the cause could be related to an underlying medical issue or a vitamin deficiency. 

Medical Issues That Cause Bleeding Gums

There are several health conditions that can cause bleeding gums, but it is important to realize that these conditions usually lead to periodontitis, which then causes the gums to bleed. 

These diseases and health conditions can include:

• Leukemia
• Pregnancy (pregnancy gingivitis usually goes away on its own once a person has delivered their baby)
• Respiratory disease
• Rheumatoid arthritis
• Coronary artery disease
• Uncontrolled blood sugar 

Likewise, some treatments, like blood-thinning medications, can also cause the gums to bleed. 

If you have one of these health conditions or are on a blood thinner, talk to your dentist or healthcare provider about ways to manage inflammation of the gums that leads to bleeding. 

Treating these diseases will help you manage your overall health, improve your dental health, and prevent your gum tissue from bleeding. The most common cause of bleeding gums is not practicing good oral hygiene, which then leads to a buildup of plaque along the gumline. 

However, if you aren’t showing any sign of gum disease and are taking care of your teeth, your bleeding gums could be caused by a vitamin deficiency.

Which Vitamin Deficiencies Can Cause Bleeding Gums?

In developed countries like the United States, vitamin deficiencies are rare without the accompaniment of an underlying illness. For instance, scurvy is a disease caused by a severe lack of vitamin C. 

The most common cause of scurvy is not eating enough fruits and vegetables. While most people have abundant access to these foods, there are populations of people in America who simply are not able to acquire these foods on a regular and consistent basis. 

Living in a “food desert” where access to fresh fruits and vegetables is limited can lead to deficiencies that most people in the U.S. won’t have. Some vitamin deficiencies that lead to bleeding gums include vitamin C and vitamin K

Vitamin C

It’s rare to have a vitamin C deficiency without an accompanying medical issue that could be causing it. Vitamin C is obtained primarily through fruits and vegetables but can also be obtained in supplement form. Most multivitamins contain vitamin C. 

Vitamin C deficiency causes the collagen that makes up periodontal ligaments to weaken. This results in a higher level of tooth mobility, which can lead to bleeding gums and tooth loss. 

Vitamin K

Vitamin K is an essential vitamin obtained through leafy green vegetables and vegetable oils like canola and olive oil. Vitamin K helps with proper blood clotting, and a deficiency is often referred to as VKDB or vitamin K deficiency bleeding. 

If you have a vitamin K deficiency, you’ll likely experience more than just bleeding gums. You may also develop cuts and scrapes that don’t heal quickly and bruise more easily. 

How To Tell if You Have a Vitamin Deficiency

The only way to determine whether or not you have a vitamin deficiency is to have your healthcare provider perform a blood test. You’ll need a full blood panel to test for these deficiencies. 

If you have them, your doctor can help you address them. Restoring your vitamin deficiencies may be as simple as including more vitamin-rich foods in your diet. However, if you are still deficient, you may need to take a supplement to help ensure you are getting enough.

Ensuring we get the recommended daily allowances of nutrients is essential for maintaining optimum wellness and avoiding health problems. However, even the most healthful eaters are probably still deficient in one essential nutrient, and they probably don’t even know it.

What Is a C15:0 Deficiency?

While vitamin deficiency is rare, having a C15:0 deficiency is not. Pentadecanoic acid, or C15:0, is an essential fatty acid (like omega-3 and omega-6) that our bodies need to maintain baseline health, but cannot readily make on their own. 

When our bodies don’t have enough C15:0, we get a condition called Cellular Fragility Syndrome. This is a huge deal because nutritional deficiency syndromes (like vitamin C deficiency and scurvy) are rarely discovered.

As described in a recent publication in the journal Metabolites, C15:0 deficiencies cause fragile cells and a process called ferroptosis. In turn, ferroptosis accelerates aging and impacts our metabolic, liver, and heart health.

The good news? Fixing C15:0 deficiencies effectively strengthens cells, fights ferroptosis, slows cellular aging, and protects our long-term metabolic, liver, and heart health. 

Even better news? There is support for optimal C15:0 levels that can help us live even healthier and longer. 

Understanding C15:0’s Role in Cellular Health

C15:0 is an odd-chain, saturated fatty acid that was discovered by a team of researchers studying longevity in bottlenose dolphins. These researchers found that dolphins with higher levels of this fatty acid in their bloodstream had fewer age-related illnesses. They took their studies further, and found out that these effects also applied to humans. 

C15:0 works by integrating in our cells, the very foundations of our health. Cells make up our tissues, organs, and systems. When our cells are healthy, we experience positive health outcomes. When our cells age, or become unhealthy, we experience a trickle-up effect that can lead to negative health impacts. 

People with low levels of C15:0 have cells that are prone to lipid peroxidation (a condition that kills cells) and early cellular breakdown. This is one reason why people with low C15:0 levels experience poorer heart, liver, and metabolic health. 

How Does C15:0 Work?

C15:0 works by restoring cellular strength, revitalizing cellular energy, and helping our cells signal (communicate) with one another in a more efficient way. 

It does so by:

• Strengthen cellular membranes, which become flimsy and weak over time. Flimsy membranes can cause cells to be more vulnerable, and can also cause them to lose their function. Studies show that C15:0 improves cell membrane strength by 80%.

• Repairing mitochondrial function. The mitochondria in our cells produce energy (ATP) to help them carry out cellular processes. With age or with damage, mitochondria produce less ATP and more ROS (molecules that are harmful to cells). C15:0 helps restore mitochondrial function by decreasing ROS production (by up to 45%) and increasing ATP production. In one peer-reviewed study, C15:0 increased ATP production by 350%.

• Improves cellular signaling. By binding to receptors called PPARs, which control processes like sleep, mood, glucose uptake, and even appetite, C15:0 helps restore total body homeostasis.

In addition, studies show that C15:0 helps lower “bad” LDL cholesterol, improves liver enzymes, and improves the gut microbiome. This fatty acid even targets 6 of the 12 hallmarks of aging, better than other solutions (like rapamycin). 

How Much C15:0 Do I Need?

The only way to know for certain is by ordering the fatty15 C15:0 at-home test or having your doctor perform a blood test. Additionally, you can determine the result of increasing your C15:0 levels by monitoring your complete blood count, fasting lipid panel, and liver enzymes.

C15:0 levels should be above 0.2% of your total fatty acids to prevent nutritional deficiencies and Cellular Fragility Syndrome. It’s worth noting that in blue zones (where people consistently live to be 100), C15:0 levels usually measure between 0.4% and 0.6% of total fatty acids.

How Can I Get C15:0?

A randomized, double-blinded, and placebo-controlled clinical trial recently published in the Journal of Nutrition has added further support that many of us have C15:0 nutritional deficiencies, and a pure C15:0 supplement called fatty15 can help fix it. 

Additionally, this study provided evidence that fatty15 supplementation:

• Safely increases C15:0 levels
• Prevents and treats Cellular Fragility Syndrome
• Raises hemoglobin levels and improves red blood cell health
• Restores liver function and improves liver health

Fatty15. 

What Is Fatty15?

Fatty15 is a pure, science-backed, bioavailable, and tiny vegan-friendly C15:0 supplement. This award-winning ingredient was developed by doctors and scientists to supplement our diet and help us maintain healthy C15:0 levels.

Numerous studies have demonstrated the broad health benefits of the pure C15:0 ingredient in fatty15, including optimal metabolic, heart, liver, and LDL cholesterol health.* To boot, more than half of fatty15 customers report feeling better within 2 weeks, including deeper sleep, calmer mood, and improved joint comfort.*

Brush, Floss, Fatty

Taking care of your teeth is important, but so is taking care of your cells. You need all the essential vitamins and minerals to prevent bad side effects like bleeding gums and unhealthy cells. 

Practicing good oral hygiene can help you with your teeth, and taking fatty15 once per day can help restore your circulating levels of C15:0 and keep your cells functioning healthfully. 

With fatty15 you can say, “So long Cellular Fragility, hello Cellular Stability.”

Sources:

Periodontitis - Symptoms and causes | Mayo Clinic

Bleeding gums: MedlinePlus Medical Encyclopedia

Beneficial Effects of Vitamin C in Maintaining Optimal Oral Health | PMC

Efficacy of dietary odd-chain saturated fatty acid pentadecanoic acid parallels broad associated health benefits in humans: could it be essential? | Scientific Reports

A review of odd-chain fatty acid metabolism and the role of pentadecanoic Acid (c15:0) and heptadecanoic Acid (c17:0) in health and disease | PMC

Effect of an Asian-adapted Mediterranean diet and pentadecanoic acid on fatty liver disease: the TANGO randomized controlled trial | ScienceDirect

The Cellular Stability Hypothesis: Evidence of Ferroptosis and Accelerated Aging-Associated Diseases as Newly Identified Nutritional Pentadecanoic Acid (C15:0) Deficiency Syndrome | Metabolites

Pentadecanoic Acid Supplementation in Young Adults with Overweight and Obesity: A Randomized Controlled Trial | The Journal of Nutrition