Tooth loss, dementia and neuropathology in the Nun study.
BACKGROUND
Numerous studies have linked dementia to the subsequent deterioration of oral health. Few investigators, however, have examined oral disease as a potential risk factor in the development of dementia. The authors conducted a study to investigate a potential association between a history of oral disease and the development of dementia.


METHODS
Longitudinal dental records supplemented data collected from 10 annual cognitive assessments of 144 Milwaukee participants in the Nun Study, a longitudinal study of aging and Alzheimer disease, who were 75 to 98 years old. Neuropathologic findings at autopsy were available for 118 participants who died.


RESULTS
A low number of teeth increased the risk of higher prevalence and incidence of dementia.


CONCLUSIONS
Participants with the fewest teeth had the highest risk of prevalence and incidence of dementia.


CONCLUSIONS
Edentulism or very few (one to nine) teeth may be predictors of dementia late in life.
Stein
Pamela Sparks
PS
Department of Anatomy and Neurobiology, College of Medicine, MN 210 Chandler Medical Center, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA. pam.stein@uky.edu
Desrosiers
Mark
M
Donegan
Sara Jean
SJ
Yepes
Juan F
JF
Kryscio
Richard J
RJ
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D016301:Alveolar Bone Loss / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology; D053327:Apolipoprotein E4 / Q000235:genetics*; D002410:Catholicism; D002544:Cerebral Infarction / Q000473:pathology; D003704:Dementia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D016874:Neurofibrillary Tangles / Q000473:pathology; D016017:Odds Ratio; D012307:Risk Factors; D016388:Tooth Loss / Q000150:complications / Q000453:epidemiology*; D014922:Wisconsin / Q000453:epidemiology
D053327:Apolipoprotein E4