New study links dementia to tooth loss
Wednesday, October 24, 2007
To keep dementia at bay, take care of your teeth. That seems to be the message of a new study in which researchers found a possible link between tooth loss or having very few teeth - one to nine, to be exact - and the development of dementia later in life.
The research team analysed dental records and brain function test results accumulated over 12 years for 144 people enrolled in the Nun Study - a long-term study of ageing and Alzheimer's disease among Catholic sisters of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. The participants ranged in age from 75 to 98 years.
Among subjects tree of dementia at the first cognitive exam, those with no teeth or fewer than nine teeth had a greater than twofold increased risk of becoming demented later in life compared with those who had 10 or more teeth, the researchers found.
Roughly one-third of subjects with fewer than nine teeth, or no teeth, had dementia at the first cognitive exam. Pamela Sparks Stein, of the College of Medicine, University of Kentucky, and associates report their findings in The Journal of the American Dental Association.
A number of prior studies have shown that people who suffer from dementia are more likely than their cognitively intact counterparts to have poor oral health, largely because of neglect of oral hygiene.
The current study is one of only a few that asked: Does poor health contribute to the development of dementia? These results suggest it may, although the Kentucky team cautions that it was not clear from the study whether the association was "causal or casual".
"Common underlying conditions may simultaneously contribute to both tooth loss and dementia," Dr Stein said.
In addition to gum disease, early life nutritional deficiencies, infections or chronic diseases might result simultaneously in tooth loss and damage to the brain, she explained.
By Megan Rauscher in New York
Reuters
Note: This study was published in The Journal of the American Dental Association, but does not necessarily reflect the policies or opinions of the Australian Dental Association.