Poor oral hygiene is associated with an increased risk for myriad health problems, including heart disease, diabetes, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis and early death….CONTINUE READING
The state of our teeth and gums, though, may be vital for our well-being beyond the mouth and body.
Emerging evidence suggests that what goes on in our mouth can affect what goes on in our brain — and may even potentially affect our risk for dementia.
“People should really be aware that oral health is really important,” said Anita Visser, professor in geriatric dentistry at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands.
Severe periodontal disease — chronic inflammation of and damage to the gums and bone that support the teeth — affects about 19 percent of people older than 15 or more than 1 billion people worldwide, according to a 2022 World Health Organization report
. More research is needed, but recent observational studies have suggested that oral health may be a modifiable risk factor for Alzheimer’s, the most common type of dementia.
Scientists are still working out whether and how the health of our mouths and minds meld, but they have identified two potential culprits that might explain how gum disease could lead to Alzheimer’s disease: bacteria and inflammation.
One of the first studies to document the link between gum disease, tooth loss and Alzheimer’s disease focused on a cohort of aging nuns who were part of a larger study on aging. Researchers tracked 144 of the nuns
and found that severe tooth loss was associated with dementia risk up to 6.4 times higher than compared with those who lost fewer teeth.
Other more recent longitudinal studies also found that a higher incidence of tooth loss was associated with cognitive decline. In one small 2016 study
of 60 patients with mild to moderate dementia, periodontitis was associated with a sixfold increase in cognitive decline.
Another study, in 2017, of almost 28,000 Taiwanese patients reported that having chronic periodontal disease for 10 or more years corresponded to a 1.7 times increase in the risk for Alzheimer’s disease
. A 2022 meta-analysis
of 47 longitudinal studies reported that tooth loss and poor oral health are associated with both cognitive decline and dementia.
This research paints an emerging picture of an association between poor oral health and dementia, but there are a number of confounding factors that prevent researchers from drawing definitive conclusions of causation.
The higher rate of dental problems among those with dementia may be a symptom rather than a cause of cognitive decline. People with dementia have a difficult time maintaining their oral health and have an increased risk of developing gum disease, meaning that the association between oral and cognitive health may be bidirectional.
Other known risk factors
for dementia, such as smoking and lower educational levels, are also associated with worse oral health. Tooth loss has secondary effects that can affect nutrition and overall health, which can also affect cognition, Mario Dioguardi, a researcher in dental science at the University of Foggia, said in an email….CONTINUE READING