There are lots of good reasons to try and follow a healthier diet.

You lose weight, you feel good, but the main reason, to live a longer, happier, more productive life.

Welcome to the Nutrition Facts Podcast.

I'm your host, Dr. Michael Greger.

Can't live with him, can't live without him, and yes, I'm talking about teeth. Did you know that chewing

pressures in the jaw can have neurological effects? Here's our first story.

Systematic reviews and meta analyses have found that tooth loss or peridontitis is associated

with both cognitive impairment and dementia,

reverse causation might be an intuitive explanation,

dementia leading to a decline in oral hygiene,

but prospective studies following people over time have found that tooth loss appears to predict

future cognitive decline in the more missing teeth the higher the associated risk.

Genetic determinants of elevated periodontitis risk do not appear to be associated with development of Alzheimer's disease,

suggesting the association may be due to shared or confounding risk factors,

support diet or low socioeconomic status represent common

pathways for both tooth loss and dementia. But even studies controlling

for confounding factors found a connection between tooth laws and dimension.

However, one factor that wasn't controlled for was intelligence.

Those with higher IQ are both more likely to floss and have fewer tooth and gum problems

as well as have a delayed onset of clinically detectable Alzheimer's due to a greater cognitive

reserve.

Are there any potential causal mechanisms beyond the chronic inflammation?

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