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Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

eurekalert.org

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Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

#11

Post by testvox »

hammock wrote: post #5
Someone1234 wrote: post #2

P. gingivalis has been shown that it can migrate from the mouth to the brain. It is also found in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers. But we don't know yet if it is THE cause of Alzheimer's. Which is to say "more research is needed to prove a cause and effect link." This is still fresh science, the ink is still wet. It might ultimately prove that the cause of Alzheimer's is P. gingivalis (which is Nobel Prize levels…

>Please brush and floss. There's no downside. I wouldn't go as far as to say there's NO downside. Of course this makes me sound like a kook, but in the interest of full transparency: If you are using fluoridated toothpaste there are side effects of the fluoride, not to mention the other synthetic chemicals in there like sulfates that mess with your gut - and Oral-B Glide floss is made with teflon-like substances (PFA…

But then again brushing with fluoridated toothpaste is one of the few dental interventions with good evidence supporting it's effectiveness (unlike flossing for instance).

Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

#12

Post by fooey »

azangru wrote: post #9
Someone1234 wrote: post #2

P. gingivalis has been shown that it can migrate from the mouth to the brain. It is also found in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers. But we don't know yet if it is THE cause of Alzheimer's. Which is to say "more research is needed to prove a cause and effect link." This is still fresh science, the ink is still wet. It might ultimately prove that the cause of Alzheimer's is P. gingivalis (which is Nobel Prize levels…

> Ten years ago similar articles on prion-based infections causing Alzheimer's was the hotness, until it wasn't. I think it was not so long ago that I saw an article linking herpes viruses to Alzheimer's (which sounded much more plausible than an oral bacterium). Something must be causing those amyloid deposits...

I don't know where I picked up the idea, but I've long thought that it makes a kind of sense that oral plaque and gum disease would be linked to heart and brain diseases.

Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

#13

Post by Kurtz79 »

arcticfox wrote: post #3

I wish there was some way to compare / visualize where I should be putting my effort on this stuff. Surely I should do better taking care of my gums (flossing...:|), but I also need to improve my diet and exercise, among other things. I'd hate to find out that the things in my life that I do manage to fix turn out to be more difficult and less effectual than other options...

Serioulsy, brush your teeth to avoid tooth decay and dental problems, as fixing those will be expensive, painful and still lead to substandard replacements.

It there is a single personal care thing I wish I listened more to my parents and common sense, that's it.

Diet and exercise are important as well but, compared to those, the amount of effort, willpower and discipline associated to keeping your teeth clean is risible.

Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

#14

Post by smileysteve »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #4

This is going to sound like a shill but I have to recommend the new Gum Detoxify toothpaste from Crest and thought I'd share it with other Hacker News readers. It has stannous fluoride and that is supposed to work better and actually kill bacteria around your gums. The reviews for it seemed crazy positive so I thought I would try it and it has been a product that actually does what it says. I have to say, I wake up w…

related concept Probiotics for your mouth https://probiorahealth.com/?msclkid=3bfa04734b5c1067a58a5885...

Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

#15

Post by Avery3R »

fooey wrote: post #10
arcticfox wrote: post #3

I wish there was some way to compare / visualize where I should be putting my effort on this stuff. Surely I should do better taking care of my gums (flossing...:|), but I also need to improve my diet and exercise, among other things. I'd hate to find out that the things in my life that I do manage to fix turn out to be more difficult and less effectual than other options...

Twice a day of brush, floss, and rinse is the bare minimum to keep healthy teeth and gums I bought a nice electric toothbrush and water flosser, so I feel like I get a better job done faster (Sonicare and Waterpik)

You should not rinse directly after brushing. Toothpaste has a higher concentration of fluoride than any mouthwash, if you're going to use a rinse the recommendation is to wait 30 mins after brushing, and you should never rinse with water

Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

#16

Post by hackinthebochs »

azangru wrote: post #9
Someone1234 wrote: post #2

P. gingivalis has been shown that it can migrate from the mouth to the brain. It is also found in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers. But we don't know yet if it is THE cause of Alzheimer's. Which is to say "more research is needed to prove a cause and effect link." This is still fresh science, the ink is still wet. It might ultimately prove that the cause of Alzheimer's is P. gingivalis (which is Nobel Prize levels…

> Ten years ago similar articles on prion-based infections causing Alzheimer's was the hotness, until it wasn't. I think it was not so long ago that I saw an article linking herpes viruses to Alzheimer's (which sounded much more plausible than an oral bacterium). Something must be causing those amyloid deposits...

A recent study I've seen suggests that all three might have a causal role to play. Going from memory, the research suggests that amyloid plaque is part of an immune response to pathogenic infections in the brain. So herpes or P. gingivalis infections might trigger the build up of the plaque. The other causal factor is that certain forms of these plaques have prion-like properties, in that they induce a malfolding that has increased toxicity.

Wouldn't it be incredible if multiple independent lines of inquiry converged into a single unified explanatory framework?

Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

#17

Post by yxhuvud »

azangru wrote: post #9
Someone1234 wrote: post #2

P. gingivalis has been shown that it can migrate from the mouth to the brain. It is also found in the brains of Alzheimer's sufferers. But we don't know yet if it is THE cause of Alzheimer's. Which is to say "more research is needed to prove a cause and effect link." This is still fresh science, the ink is still wet. It might ultimately prove that the cause of Alzheimer's is P. gingivalis (which is Nobel Prize levels…

> Ten years ago similar articles on prion-based infections causing Alzheimer's was the hotness, until it wasn't. I think it was not so long ago that I saw an article linking herpes viruses to Alzheimer's (which sounded much more plausible than an oral bacterium). Something must be causing those amyloid deposits...

It could well be that more or less any infection in the wrong place could cause it. It doesn't have to be a specific bacteria.

Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

#18

Post by tashoecraft »

fooey wrote: post #10
arcticfox wrote: post #3

I wish there was some way to compare / visualize where I should be putting my effort on this stuff. Surely I should do better taking care of my gums (flossing...:|), but I also need to improve my diet and exercise, among other things. I'd hate to find out that the things in my life that I do manage to fix turn out to be more difficult and less effectual than other options...

Twice a day of brush, floss, and rinse is the bare minimum to keep healthy teeth and gums I bought a nice electric toothbrush and water flosser, so I feel like I get a better job done faster (Sonicare and Waterpik)

From what my dentist told me, while a water flosser is nice, it doesn't replace flossing. It basically does half of what normal flossing does.

Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

#19

Post by analpaint »

JohnJamesRambo wrote: post #4

This is going to sound like a shill but I have to recommend the new Gum Detoxify toothpaste from Crest and thought I'd share it with other Hacker News readers. It has stannous fluoride and that is supposed to work better and actually kill bacteria around your gums. The reviews for it seemed crazy positive so I thought I would try it and it has been a product that actually does what it says. I have to say, I wake up w…

Stannous flouride (ie tin) in toothpaste is nothing new. Nice that Crest has figured out some shiny new marketing, but ironically the original bog standard original Crest in 1954 was tin fluoride until they moved over to monoflurophosphate for cost reasons.

Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's

#20

Post by mattmanser »

testvox wrote: post #11
hammock wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Please brush and floss. There's no downside. I wouldn't go as far as to say there's NO downside. Of course this makes me sound like a kook, but in the interest of full transparency: If you are using fluoridated toothpaste there are side effects of the fluoride, not to mention the other synthetic chemicals in there like sulfates that mess with your gut - and Oral-B Glide floss is made with teflon-like substances (PFA…

But then again brushing with fluoridated toothpaste is one of the few dental interventions with good evidence supporting it's effectiveness (unlike flossing for instance).

I find it hard to believe this sudden flurry of doubt about flossing, just based on my own experience. I have quite packed together teeth and find flossing very fiddly, so am very inconsistent with it.

When I don't floss, after 3 or 4 months, my gums start to puff up and bleed when brushed. When I do floss at least once a week, they don't.

It was especially obvious when I smoked, a few months after visiting the dentist/hygienist I would get bleeding from my gums, at times quite worrying amounts and one of the many reasons I gave up. However, after a few nights of flossing, it would always reduce significantly.

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