Tooth Loss Linked to Cognitive Decline

Tooth Loss Linked to Cognitive Decline

Researchers at Boston University Henry M. Goldman School of Dental Medicine (GSDM) linked tooth loss and periodontitis to cognitive decline in an extensive study published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

The university reports that Elizabeth Krall Kaye, MPH, PhD, searched for patterns in dental records from 1970 to 1973 to determine if periodontal diseases and tooth loss predicted whether people performed well or poorly on cognitive tests. She found that for each tooth lost per decade, the risk of doing poorly increased approximately eight to 10 percent. More cavities usually meant lower cognition, too. People with no tooth loss tended to do better on the tests.

Kaye cites inflammation as a possible cause, noting that other studies found higher levels of inflammation markers in people with Alzheimer’s. “Periodontal disease and caries are infectious diseases that introduce Inflammatory proteins into the blood,” she says. “There’s a lot of circumstantial evidence that inflammation raises your risk of cognitive decline, and it could be that gum inflammation is one of the sources.”

The men who were studied (veterans living in the Boston metropolitan area), enrolled in the VA Dental Longitudinal Study in the late 1960s and early ‘70s and returned on an ongoing basis for medical, dental and cognitive exams.