​Gum Disease-Alzheimer’s Link Revealed In Patients With High Levels Of Antibodies To Periodontal Bacteria

Gum disease and Alzheimer’s may be linked after a study, jointly led by the University of Southampton and King’s College London, cognitively assessed several participants by taking blood samples to measure inflammatory markers in their blood, according to Daily Mail.

The small research paper, published in PLOS ONE, looked at 59 people who were all deemed to have mild to moderate dementia. It is thought the body’s response to gum inflammation may be hastening the brain’s decline.

Gum disease, Alzheimer’s link in new study revealed

The Alzheimer’s Society said if the link was proven to be true, then good oral health may help slow dementia. The body’s response to inflammatory conditions was cited as a possible reason for the quicker decline.

Inflammation causes immune cells to swell and has long been associated with gum disease and Alzheimer’s. Researchers believe their findings add weight to evidence that inflammation in the brain is what drives the oral problem.

The oral health of the participants in the study was also assessed by a dental hygienist who was unaware of the cognitive outcomes. Of the sample group, 22 were found to have considerable gum disease while for the remaining 37 patients the disease was much less apparent. The average age of the group with disease was 75, and in the other group it was 79.

A majority of participants - 52 - were followed up at six months, and all assessments were repeated. The presence of gum problem - or periodontitis as it is known - was associated with a six-fold increase in the rate of cognitive decline.

Dentist Dr. Mark Ide from King’s College London said he was “surprised” by the rate of decline, and said that as patients with periodontitis chew on their teeth they were effectively giving themselves “mini-injections” of bacteria into their bloodstream. “In just six months you could see the patients going downhill - it’s really quite scary,” he said.

Higher levels of antibodies to periodontal bacteria are associated with an increase in levels of inflammatory molecules elsewhere in the body - which in turn have been linked to greater rates of cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s disease.

Prof Clive Holmes, senior author from the University of Southampton, said the results were “very interesting” and proved that this study needed to be carried out again but using a larger number of participants.

“However, if there is a direct relationship between periodontitis and cognitive decline, as this current study suggests, then treatment of gum disease might be a possible treatment option for Alzheimer’s,” he said.

He also said his researchers had taken into account the fact that gum disease may become more common in those people with Alzheimer’s, because of a reduced ability to take care of oral hygiene as periodontitis progresses.

Dr. Doug Brown, director of research and development at the Alzheimer’s Society, also recognized that the study “adds evidence to the idea that gum disease could potentially be a contributing factor to Alzheimer’s. If this is proven to be the case, better dental hygiene would offer a relatively straightforward way to help slow the progression of dementia and enable people to remain independent for longer,” he said.

But he also described the study as “small” and said it was currently “unclear” whether the gum disease was the cause or the effect. “We don’t know if the gum disease is triggering the faster decline of dementia, or vice versa,” he said.