Older adults with periodontal disease are more likely to have evidence for a key biomarker for Alzheimer’s disease, according to new research.
In what’s believed to be the first such study, researchers from NYU College of Dentistry and Weill Cornell Medicine uncovered an association between gum disease and beta-amyloid, a protein that as it accumulates in the brain disrupts communication between brain cells as Alzheimer’s develops.
While the results showed that people with an imbalance of harmful oral bacteria were more likely to have reduced amyloid levels, this imbalance was not associated with another Alzheimer’s biomarker called tau, which builds up in nerve cells and forms tangles.
Read the full NYU press release
Access the journal study: Alzheimer's & Dementia: Diagnosis, Assessment & Disease Monitoring
