Sunday, August 12, 2018

Oral health may be linked to cognitive decline


Oral health cognitive decline

According to new research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, there may be a link between oral health and the progression of cognitive decline.

"Clinical evidence suggests that the frequency of oral health problems increases significantly in cognitively impaired older people, particularly those with dementia,” said lead researcher Bei Wu, PhD, of Duke University's School of Nursing in Durham, North Carolina in the US.

"In addition, many of the factors associated with poor oral health — such as poor nutrition and systemic diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease — are also associated with poor cognitive function,” he added.

The researchers caution, however, that more studies are needed.

Findings came from the first systematic review of studies focused on oral health and cognition. These two important areas of research are important because in a growing older adult population, some 36% of people over age 70 are already living with some degree of cognitive decline. Researchers believe that a common inflammatory pathway may hold the key to a link between oral hygiene and cognitive impairment, if such a link exists.


Poor oral health has been blamed for heart disease, due to the spread of bacteria and oral health problems may be aggravated by diabetes and HIV/AIDS due to reduction of body’s resistance to infection.

Alzheimer's Association estimates around 5.4 million people in the US have Alzheimer's disease - the most common form of dementia.

To look for a link between oral health and cognitive status, Dr. Wu and her colleagues combed through 56 studies published between January1993 and March 2013 that examined the relationship between oral health and change in cognitive health or dementia incidence. They analyzed relevant cross-sectional (data collected at one specific point in time) and longitudinal (data collected over an extended period of time).

Some of the studies analyzed found that dental health measures, such as the number of teeth, the number of cavities, and the presence of gum disease, were linked to an increased risk of cognitive decline or dementia. Which is interesting considering a 2013 study found gum disease bacteria in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients — but this study in no way proved that gum disease causes Alzheimer’s disease. It just acknowledged an association.

However, researchers involved with the current review also noted that the findings based on the number of teeth or cavities are conflicting, and limited studies suggested that the dental conditions such as gingivitis are associated with cognitive decline. Similarly, the team didn’t regularly find that cognitive decline was associated with greater loss of teeth or number of decayed teeth. However, it is likely that "methodological limitations play a major role in explaining the inconsistent findings," they wrote.


"There is not enough evidence to date to conclude that a causal association exists between cognitive function and oral health. For future research, we recommend that investigators gather data from larger and more population representative samples, use standard cognitive assessments and oral health measures, and use more sophisticated data analyses," Dr. Wu said.

2 comments:

  1. My name is Olisa Blessing, I feel so pleasant. I never think I will be this healthy again in my life. I have worked as an air hostess ( cabin crew ) for 3years but early this year, I lost my job because of this deadly disease called Herpes virus (HSV). I never felt sick or notice any symptoms. Not until the day all workers were asked to bring their doctors report card, that was how I got tested and I found out that I'm HSV positive and that made me lose my job because it was considered as an STD and is an incurable disease. I was so depressed that I started thinking of suicide.
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  2. I was able to overcome senile dementia via a complete naturopathic process.

    About two years ago, when I was 56, I started feeling foggy and had occasional memory declines. My wife, Mary, started to notice it, too, but I also have hearing issues so she thought that was the problem. My memory problems worsened very gradually over the years, and we stayed with it, compensating as needed. I became less social. After some months thereafter, it got to the point where we couldn’t keep making excuses or ignoring it. I had gone from doing our grocery shopping without a list to going with a list, to having the list but not buying what was on it.

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