Count Your Cognitive Blessings–Or Teeth?
By now, you’re becoming aware of the fact that in order to have tip-top cognitive function, you can’t rely on taking care of your brain alone. We’ve talked about maintaining heart health to have better cognition, how exercise is necessary to boost memory, and now there’s a link between dental health and age-related neurodegeneration that’s got our attention!
Tooth Loss and Cognitive Decline
Research from New York University has found a link between how many teeth you have in your senior years and your risk for developing a neurodegenerative condition. Older individuals missing teeth were found to have almost one-and-a-half times the risk of developing cognitive impairment and about 1.2 times more of a risk of being diagnosed with such a condition.
Having fewer teeth but using dentures seemed to confer a protective effect, lowering the risk of cognitive impairment from almost 24% more likely to around 17% of a higher risk of cognitive declines. Looking further into the connection between cognitive impairment and tooth loss in denture wearers found that the cognitive impairment wasn’t as significant in denture wearers.
Could the connection between the number of teeth in a mouth somehow get worse as more teeth are lost? Losing one more tooth elevated cognitive decline risk by 1.4% and neurodegenerative condition risk by 1%, researchers found. Each additional lost tooth correlated with a 1.4% rise in cognitive decline and a 1% increase in neurodegenerative conditions. We can see how the loss of all 32 teeth can continue to multiply this risk.
The study doesn’t clarify whether cognitive decline preceded poor oral hygiene, resulting in tooth loss, or vice versa. It remains unclear from the study whether cognitive decline or poor oral health came first, prompting further investigation. Could the absence of teeth and challenges with chewing lead to nutrient deficiencies, impacting cognitive health by limiting nutrient-rich foods? Research explores if difficulty chewing, linked to tooth loss, contributes to cognitive decline by limiting nutrient intake from whole foods. Did the bacterial imbalance from decaying teeth cause toxins to cross the blood-brain barrier, leading to cognitive decline? Research suggests a link between tooth decay, bacterial imbalance, and cognitive decline.
Either way, you can be sure that we’re all remembering to brush (and count) our teeth before bed tonight!
Further Reading
Xiang Qi, Zheng Zhu, Brenda L. Plassman, et al. Dose-Response Meta-Analysis on Tooth Loss With the Risk of Cognitive Impairment and Dementia. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association, 2021; DOI: 10.1016/j.jamda.2021.05.009
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