Vitamin K is one of the most important nutrients for a healthy body.  Most importantly, it is vital to healthy bones, which contribute 2% of total body weight. It activates proteins responsible for distributing calcium throughout the body, and, thus, the skeletal system, the hard structural foundation that keeps the body upright and protects vital organs, depends on it.

What Is Vitamin K?

According to Oxford Dictionaries, Vitamin K is “Any of several related fat-soluble compounds, including vitamins K1 ( phylloquinone) and K2 ( menaquinone) found mainly in green leaves and essential for the blood-clotting process,” thus preventing excessive bleeding. Vitamin K is also absolutely essential for dental health. It plays role in healthy tooth enamel, the outside shell of the teeth, and the dentin immune response. Dentin is the hard tissue beneath the enamel.

In the dentin resides osteocalcin, which primary purpose is to transport calcium and phosphorus to teeth and bones. Osteocalcin is “a protein that accounts for 25% of the non-collagenous proteins in bone,” according to Medical Dictionary.

In fact, the amount of osteocalcin in the dentin determines whether the teeth are able to heal or cannot be healed. To illustrate, let’s say that the dentin in your teeth represents your car and that the osteocalcin is the fuel required getting the car to the desired destination. Without gasoline, the car cannot get to its destination. Without osteocalcin, the tooth cannot get to its destination. The destination for your mouth is health, and if healing the teeth and soft tissues of the mouth is the means of getting there, proper osteocalcin levels are vital.

The healing or immune response in dentin requires Vitamin K to perform effectively. In this regard, Vitamin K might correlate with the octane of your gasoline in our previously mentioned analogy. Just as you would want the octane required for your car to perform at its best capacity, so also you would want a high octane Vitamin K to help you strengthen and heal your teeth.

Fat-soluble Vitamin K also re-mineralizes teeth. Remember that the osteocalcin in dentin is responsible for transporting calcium and phosphorus to teeth and bones. Therefore, if plenteous osteocalcin is present, calcium and phosphorus are also present or are being added.

Vitamin K and Other Health Benefits

Vitamin K is also needed for a healthy heart. Since it prevents mineralization that blocks the flow of blood in arteries, it may help to prevent high blood pressure. An article entitled “The Heath Benefits of Vitamin K” in BMJ Journal states that in addition to the bone-strengthening and clotting benefits, Vitamin K also has implications for “prevention and treatment of arterial calcification, coronary heart disease and cancer.”

Vitamin K is one of the thirteen healthy ingredients in the Osteo+ supplement and is one of 6 oral care products included in the Clean Kiss Oral Care System. The system consists of Swish, Scrub,  Perio Therapy, Perio Care and Osteo Therapy+ and Oral Probiotics.