Asher, S., Stephen, R., Mäntylä, P., Suominen, A. L. & Solomon, A. Periodontal health, cognitive decline, and dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society doi:10.1111/jgs.17978.
Poor periodontal health (manifested by periodontitis, tooth loss, deep gingival pockets or alveolar bone loss) was associated with both cognitive decline (OR = 1.23; 1.05-1.44) and dementia (HR = 1.21; 1.07-1.38). In particular, tooth loss or its extent showed a strong relationship with cognitive risk independent of the other parameters, with partial tooth loss being more strongly associated with cognitive decline (OR = 1.50; 1.02-2.23) and complete tooth loss being most strongly associated with dementia (HR = 1.23; 1.05-1.45).
This is the result of a recent meta-analysis1 that analysed data from 24 studies on cognitive decline and 23 on dementia. Since cognitive decline can also lead to poor periodontal health in the sense of reverse causality, only longitudinal studies were included and for dementia as an outcome, only data from people who did not have dementia before the start of the study were considered. This was not equally possible for cognitive decline, as most studies here had a follow-up time of less than 10 years. Therefore, an additional meta-analysis was conducted, excluding papers with unclear dementia/cognition status at baseline.
"From a clinical perspective, our findings highlight the importance of periodontal health monitoring and maintenance in the context of dementia prevention", concludes the review.
For those interested in the topic in more detail, the book Dental Health and Performance - A Guide for Doctors, the Chronically Ill and Top Athletes by Meinhard Vintler, (2021), goes into greater depth on important topics such as silent inflammation (a.k.a. subclinical inflamation), periodontitis, influence on the microbiome and others. "Our dentition can quickly become a landfill in the body if care is poor. Foreign materials, damaged teeth and problematic dental and orthodontic treatments put a strain on the body and are partly responsible for the development of chronic diseases and poor performance," the author explain in the book's introductory text.
Asher, S., Stephen, R., Mäntylä, P., Suominen, A. L. & Solomon, A. Periodontal health, cognitive decline, and dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis of longitudinal studies. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society doi:10.1111/jgs.17978.