Emerging Evidence Suggests a Link Between Periodontal Health and Alzheimer’s Disease

Recent research indicates a surprising potential origin for Alzheimer’s disease, which has historically been connected to aging processes. The new potential culprit? Dental health. More specifically, the health of one’s gums may play a significant role.

The connection between dental health and Alzheimer’s disease has been gaining attention among researchers. A pivotal 2019 study led by microbiology expert Jan Potempa from the University of Louisville found the bacterium responsible for causing chronic gum disease, known as Porphyromonas gingivalis, in Alzheimer’s patients’ brains. Stephen Dominy, co-author of the study, highlighted the importance of their findings by stating, “We now have convincing evidence showing the link between the intracellular, Gram-negative pathogen P. gingivalis and the progression of Alzheimer’s.”

The Research Study and Potential Consequences for Alzheimer’s Understanding

The biopharmaceutical company Cortexyme has played a crucial role in this research. They discovered that the presence of P. gingivalis in the brain is associated with increased levels of the neurotoxin amyloid beta (Aβ), a protein heavily implicated in Alzheimer’s disease. Unexpectedly, the harmful enzymes secreted by P. gingivalis, known as gingipains, were not only present in Alzheimer’s patients but also in people who had passed away without a diagnosis of the condition, which raises new questions about the sequence of disease development.

In Cortexyme’s laboratory experiments on mice, administering a compound named COR388 resulted in reduced levels of both the bacterial infection in the brain and of amyloid-beta. The outcomes from these animal studies offer a glimmer of hope for the scientific and medical communities. David Reynolds, who is the chief scientific officer at Alzheimer’s Research, points out the lack of new dementia treatments in the recent past and underlines the critical need to explore various strategies to combat Alzheimer’s.

Published in Science Advances, this study suggests that maintaining oral hygiene may be more closely connected to Alzheimer’s disease than once thought, prompting more in-depth investigations into how dental health could influence the prevention and management of this debilitating condition. Further studies are anticipated to provide a clearer picture of these preliminary findings and their possible impact on strategies for preventing and treating Alzheimer’s disease.