New Study Suggests Dementia-Oral Health Link

A new British study from the University of Lancashire School of Medicine and Dentistry suggests a link between poor oral health and dementia,including Alzheimer's disease.The study detected a specific bacterium,Porphyromonas gingivalis,in the brains of four out of ten dementia patients.Sim Singhrao,PhD,senior research fellow at the School,said that when the brain is repeatedly exposed to bacteria and/or material from our gums,subsequent immune responses may lead to nerve cell death and possibly memory loss.Seeing your dentist could be vital for brain health.The future of the research aims to discover if P.gingivalis can be a marker,via a simple blood test,to predict the development of Alzheimer's disease in at-risk patients,she noted.Further research is needed to confirm the theory,several other British scientists emphasised.A number of other studies have suggested a link between dementia and inflammation from bacterial infection.