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Monday, September 17, 2012

Maintaining Oral Health Could Help Elderly Avoid Dementia

Hot off the presses in the August 2012 issue of The Journal of the American Geriatrics Society: A study demonstrates a link between lack of daily toothbrushing and increased risk of dementia.  "(Patients) who reported not brushing their teeth daily had a 22% to 65% greater risk of dementia than those who brushed three times daily." And the risk seems greater for males than females.  The authors caution that the statistical link is not the same as poor oral hygiene causing dementia, and the finding is interesting nonetheless. I look forward to more studies investigating this potentially significant link between oral hygiene and dementia.
Online citation: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1532-5415.2012.04064.x/abstract

Monday, June 11, 2012

Recent information from the American Heart Association and the American Academy of Periodontology


Recently, The American Heart Association published an article in the journal Circulation analyzing research data on the link between gum disease and heart disease.  Here is the article: http://circ.ahajournals.org/content/early/2012/04/18/CIR.0b013e31825719f3.full.pdf+html. 

While there is clear evidence linking untreated gum disease (of sufficient severity to result in increased systemic inflammation) to increased risk of cardiovascular disease, there is insufficient evidence to classify gum disease as a direct cause of cardiovascular disease.  And, while there is evidence linking successful treatment of gum disease to reduced systemic inflammation short-term, there is insufficient evidence to declare that this results in improved cardiovascular outcomes (reduced risk) long-term.  Even so, this failure to establish a direct correlation between periodontal therapy/improved gum health and improved long-term outcomes might simply be due to a lack of specific research looking closely enough at this relationship.  As the American Academy of Periodontology states in a recent press release:

"The AAP believes additional long-term interventional studies are needed to better understand the specific nature of the relationship between periodontal disease and cardiovascular disease. Patients’ periodontal status should also be added to future longitudinal studies of cardiovascular disease. The AAP hopes that the American Heart Association’s statement brings attention to the association between the two diseases and the need for additional research in this area."

Stay tuned (and follow this blog) for additional updates on this important topic.

Tuesday, February 28, 2012

Healthy Mouth, Healthy Body follow-up

Here is a link to a web page published by the American Academy of Periodontology on the topic of the link between peridontal disease and systemic conditions (such as heart attach, stroke, and diabetes):
http://www.perio.org/consumer/mbc.top2.htm

Monday, December 5, 2011

Getting Started: Why bother striving to have a healthy mouth?

There is compelling evidence that untreated peridontal disease is a risk factor for many systemic conditions, such as heart disease/stroke, diabetes, arthritis including rheumatoid arthritis, and gum disease even seems to increase the risk for pancreatic cancer. For example, untreated gum disease results in elevated C-reactive protein (Crp), and increasing Crp is linked to adverse outcomes and increased mortality with heart attacks and strokes.  Guess what?  The inflammation associated with gum disease that seems to entail the increased risk for these adverse outcomes is caused by the germs in one's plaque getting underneath the gumline.  Bottom line? My very favorite lay press article on the issue summed it up with its headline: "Floss or Die"

What do you think?