Your teeth and your brain are both housed in your head, but what does oral care have to do with the health of your brain? That’s the question scientists were trying to answer when they discovered that periodontal disease—an inflammatory condition that eventually leads to the loss of teeth—could kickstart Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago conducted a study published in the journal PLOS One that showed mice with the bacteria that causes gum disease had inflammation and deterioration in their brains, too.