Associations Between Periodontal Health/Treatment and Cognitive Impairment: Latest Evidence From Epidemiological Studies

• Published in: Current oral health reports Vol. 7; no. 2; pp. 119 - 128
• Main Authors: Sato, Misuzu, Iwasaki, Masanori, Minagawa, Kumiko, Miyamoto, Akane
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.06.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Alzheimer's disease; Chronic illnesses; Cognitive ability; Cohort analysis; Cross-sectional studies; Dementia; Diabetes; Gum disease; Inflammation; Longitudinal studies; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery; Population; Risk factors; Section Editor; Systemic Diseases (N Buduneli; Topical Collection on Systemic Diseases; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Japan; Taiwan; Periodontal treatment; Periodontal disease; Review; Epidemiological study; Cognitive impairment
• ISSN: 2196-3002; 2196-3002
• DOI: 10.1007/s40496-020-00265-3

Purpose of Review With the aging of the worldwide population, the social impact of cognitive impairment is increasing. Periodontal disease may be a risk factor for cognitive impairment. This review aimed to establish the latest evidence for associations between cognitive impairment and periodontal health/treatment published in the past 5 years. Recent Findings Electronic searches were conducted in PubMed for literature published in English between January 2015 and September 2019. The selected 15 studies included 3 cross-sectional, 9 longitudinal, and 3 case-control studies. Most studies demonstrated a significant association between periodontal health and cognitive impairment. On the other hand, evidence for the effect of periodontal treatment was scarce. Summary The latest evidence suggests that prevention of periodontal disease may facilitate prevention of cognitive impairment; however, further interventional research should be conducted to obtain definite conclusions regarding the causal relationship between periodontal treatment and impaired cognition.