I’m a dentist — here’s how brushing your teeth could ward off dementia

This is not a drill.

Dental experts are stressing the importance of keeping your teeth and gums healthy, especially as research suggests that poor oral hygiene is associated with dementia.

“The public needs to be more aware of the correlation between oral health and cognitive abilities,” Chia-Shu Lin, a professor in dentistry at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan, told Newsweek last week.

Lin’s team recently analyzed 28 systematic reviews of the association between oral health and cognitive dysfunction, calling on researchers to clarify the cause-effect relationship between the two factors.

“With dementia, patients deteriorate in self-caring ability,” explained Lin, whose findings were published in the journal Ageing Research Reviews. “For example, patients with Alzheimer’s disease would feel difficulty in brushing their teeth, which further exacerbates oral health and cognitive function — such a deterioration in self-caring behavior may induce a ‘vicious cycle’ that exacerbates one’s already poor health in general.”

And, Lin pointed out, simply brushing your teeth doesn’t mean you won’t develop dementia, which is the loss of memory, language, reasoning and thinking skills.

5.8 million Americans have Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which also reports that some 68% of adults 65 and older have gum disease.

Gum disease, also called periodontitis, develops when plaque — a sticky substance that contains bacteria — builds up on teeth. Plaque can be removed by regularly brushing and flossing.

A 2019 study identified the bacterium porphyromonas gingivalis, the major cause of periodontitis, in the brains of Alzheimer’s disease patients.

Inflammation also presents a problem that can affect the brain. Periodontal disease is characterized by chronic inflammation of the gums and bone surrounding teeth.

A 2022 study noted that “systemic inflammation can lead to deleterious consequences on the brain.”

“The whole body is fighting against this bacteria,” Anita Visser, a professor in geriatric dentistry at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands, explained to The Washington Post in September of mouth bacteria. “The immune system is really provoked and alert and working really hard against these bacteria.”

Researchers hope to fill in the blanks in the relationship between oral health and dementia to determine if poor oral hygiene is simply a symptom of dementia or a cause of it.

“It’s really complicated,” Visser said. “And this is why we cannot say, ‘Oh, if you have periodontitis, you will get Alzheimer’s disease.’ But we know now that if you have severe periodontitis, the chance of getting Alzheimer’s disease is bigger.”

In the meantime, Mario Dioguardi, a researcher in dental science at the University of Foggia in Italy, hopes word of mouth spurs people to take more care with their dental hygiene practices.

“Raising awareness among the population about the increased risk of Alzheimer’s associated with tooth loss and periodontitis can lead to heightened attention towards oral health,” Dioguardi told the Washington Post.