Dental health correlated with memory loss

There is a correlation between dental damage and memory loss, according to a research published in the European Journal of Oral Sciences.

Dental health affects individuals' episodic and semantic memory, regardless of their age, job, educational level, and medical condition. Episodic memory refers to the memory of past events, as opposed to semantic memory, which involves factual information.

Researchers from universities in Sweden and Norway had 273 volunteers, aged 55 to 80, complete a memory test.

Results showed participants had an average of 22 natural teeth _ 10 fewer than the full dentition of 32. Approximately 70 percent of the missing teeth were molars - teeth at the back of the mouth adapted to grinding food.

Participants with most of their teeth had an average of a 4 percent better memory than those without.

"In line with the stated hypothesis, the number of natural teeth was positively associated with performance on episodic memory, recall as well as recognition," said the researchers from Umea University, Stockholm University, and the institute of Clinical Dentistry.

One explanation is that fewer teeth yields to less signals being sent to a region of the brain involved in memory formation called the hippocampus.

Researchers say reduced chewing may be an alternative explanation to the relationship between dental health and memory loss. It has been shown that chewing increases blood flow to the brain and stimulates brain activity.