Take good care of your teeth and gums, and you’ll be protecting your brain as well.
Gum disease—known as periodontitis—causes areas of the brain to shrink, and researchers suspect it could be a trigger for Alzheimer’s disease.
Gum inflammation and tooth loss are linked to shrinkage in the hippocampus region of the brain, which is responsible for memory, and is believed to be most closely associated with the development of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Researchers at Tohoku University in Japan recruited 172 people with an average age of 55 at the start of the eight-year trial to assess the impact of poor oral health on memory loss.
They discovered that mild gum disease, which included losing one tooth from bone shrinkage, was the equivalent of one year’s brain ageing, but this increased to 1.3 years’ brain shrinkage in those with severe gum disease.
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