A recent study in the Journal of the American Dental Association linked a significant decline in word fluency and concentration to loss of teeth. This is not the first study to do so, but we aare not yet sure if there is a bidirectional association between number of teeth and cognitive function. In other words, do disorders such as dementia lead to tooth loss, or is it the other way around, or do both lead to the other?
I got thinking of this study after recently meeting with two dentists who are treating pre-Parkinson’s and pre-dementia patients with Prevora. Their motives weren’t to arrest the decline of cognitive decline, but rather to manage the bioburden causing caries as the patients’ ability to maintain oral hygiene fails.
Given that soon 1 in 10 Baby Boomers will be entering a pre-Parkinson’s phase of their life, this is a great strategy to manage both disorders.
And so does your community, as judged by the response to this same story on Facebook.
SOURCE: By Ross Perry – http://partnersinprevention.ca/the-role-of-oral-health-in-cognitive-decline-and-vice-versa/
