The most feared disease in the world is dementia. It’s even more hated than heart disease.
Strangely, though, the topic of preventing conditions like Alzheimer’s rarely comes up in conversation, even among medical professionals. As always, predestination and “genetics” are to blame.
But it turns out that, just like heart disease and diabetes, dementia may also be preventable. Adopting specific anti-aging lifestyle factors may be all that it takes to ward off the disease and prevent it from coming to fruition later in life.
Even more strangely, it could be that the teeth themselves hold the key. People who are able to chew their food and exert pressure through their jaws may be at a lower risk of cognitive decline as they get older.
This finding sounds like something out of a crank-filled health magazine, but serious science supports it. Researchers believe that the mechanical chewing action of the mouth with sufficient mandibular pressure could support a healthy mind.
Why do they think this? When researchers looked at cognitive function among older people with tooth loss, they found that, indeed, their cognitive function seemed to decline. That was expected: people who lose their teeth often indulge in other risky behaviors, like smoking or eating a poor diet.
But then researchers noticed that people with dentures didn’t experience the same cognitive decline, even if they had lost their teeth to harmful lifestyle practices previously. The conclusion from this strange observation was that the chewing action itself seemed to lead to enhanced brain function.
Researchers weren’t convinced straight away, though. After all, there could have been other confounding factors. Because of this, they decided to see what would happen if they conducted an experiment along these lines in mice. One group of critters would eat a “soft” diet that required minimal chewing, and the other would get a harder diet that caused them to clench their jaws more while keeping most of the other components the same. What they found was that they saw an increase in blood flow to the mice’s brain when they clenched their jaws, potentially providing more nutrients and oxygenation, and helping them remove some of the waste products that can accumulate in the tissue.
You can see a similar effect in humans. When people clench their kaws and chew on a piece of sugar-free gum, you get a similar effect. These individuals seem to have more cerebral blood flow on an MRI scanner.
However, you can’t prove cause and effect with studies like these. While they might be highly suggestive that chewing harder, more fibrous food can improve brain health, you don’t know or be sure until you put it to the test.
When researchers tested the hypothesis in humans, they added implanted dentures to the mouths of toothless individuals with usual titanium posts to see what would happen to their cognition. The hope was that fixing the dental prosthetics to the bone would permit greater transmission of chewing forces into the jawbone which, in turn, would ensure a higher delivery of blood to the brain.
So what did they find? The results showed that the people with the proper implants improved the cognitive function of the affected patients. Most of the individuals going into the study had a cognitive impairment, but only a handful had one once they came out of it, with most people showing a boost in brain health overall.
“Studies like these reveal the value and importance of avoiding losing teeth and visiting a dentist regularly,” says hellodent, a platform that helps people find dental practitioners in their area. “People who maintain excellent oral hygiene are likely boosting their health and staving off seemingly unrelated problems in the future, which is a surprising finding.”
“The gold standard is to visit the dentist every six months or so. Fortunately, most care plans pay for these preventative trips because it often means lower long-run costs. Fewer tests and examinations lower treatment prices, and can avoid the most expensive procedures, like dental implants.”
But what can the average person do to take care of their teeth? Fortunately, it falls in line with state-of-the-art anti-aging advice.
One recommendation is to avoid eating foods that can cause harm to the mouth’s microbiome. The majority of people eat a so-called “meat and sweet” diet, which includes lots of meat and sugary desserts. However, the optimal approach to nutrition for oral health eliminates these foods and focuses on whole-plant sources of nutrition instead.
Intact plant foods are effective for maintaining a healthy oral environment because they foster the growth of healthy bacteria that crowd out the bad. Fragments of beans, whole grains, and vegetables remain in the mouth, providing food to microbes that can eat them. These then remove the dangerous microbes in the environment, cutting the risk of gum disease and cavities that lead to tooth loss.
Furthermore, most of these foods are non-sticky. This term refers to the fact that they don’t adhere to the teeth and provide shelter for bad bacteria to thrive, especially between teeth and in the pockets on top of molars. Removing sugary candies and white flour from the diet prevents harm from taking place, reducing risks substantially, and making it possible to maintain full chewing action and jaw function for longer.
“The findings in the scientific literature are astounding and something that will cause dentists to pause across the spectrum,” says hellodent. “It proves that what happens in the mouth really can affect the body, including the brain, which isn’t so far away and connected to it mechanically.”
Whether nutritional strategies will become a mainstay of dental practice remains to be seen. However, dentists will likely come around to the idea following evidence like this.
Furthermore, it again proves that a diet low in sugar and meat seems to be best for longevity, this time through a rather indirect mechanism. Again, diets focusing on food groups like legumes, vegetables, fruits, and whole grains that require the most chewing may be protective for the brain.
M&F and editorial staff were not involved in the creation of this content.
