A lot of brain diseases are proving difficult to treat due to the “blood-brain barrier”[1]. Could this bacteria be genetically modified to achieve this purpose? If so, the bacteria, when absorbed through the gums could be used benevolently to provide treatment for all sorts of brain diseases.
Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's
61–70 of 80 posts
Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's
#62I shared this with a biostatistician friend and he replied:
There has been epidemiologic evidence of associations between periodontal disease and several diseases/outcomes, including heart attacks, strokes and (in pregnant women) premature and/or low birthweight babies. Clinical trials of treatments for periodontal disease have thus far not shown any benefit in terms of these outcomes. For example:
Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's
#63Earlier quoted context omitted.
"There's no good evidence that flossing is effective for preventing dental carries and periodontal disease vs brushing alone" is not the same as "flossing is not effective for preventing dental carries and periodontal disease vs brushing alone." Just because evidence for something doesn't exist or is weak doesn't mean it doesn't work, it just means we haven't done the high quality randomized studies to prove it works…
There are whole countries where flossing is not a thing. Fluoridated water protects your teeth. The rest may be just culture.
Fluoride protects teeth, not gums!
Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's
#64This 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…
There's also nano-hydroxyapatite (n-Ha), a bioactive form of calcium apatite that has been found to stick to dentine and help remineralize your teeth [1] [2]. It's popular in Japan, where it's even added to things like sports drinks. It's not easy to get in the West yet. The only toothpaste I know with n-Ha is Boka [3], and there's a more expensive Japanese one on Amazon called Apagard Premio [4]. [1] https://www.ncb…
> It's not easy to get in the West yet.
We've had it in Italy for more than a decade: https://www.nature.com/articles/bdj.2007.933
Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's
#65Zimbabwean here but live in Canada now. There are numerous older people back in Zimbabwe who probably haven't seen a toothbrush aside from an ad in a newspaper (they are 70+ years of age). No Alzheimer's to speak of its possible this is an anecdote but I don't hear of its prevalence there or other non-north--american countries. But then again those countries don't have as big of a media footprint and research. I stil…
At least in the mid-2000s, Zimbabwe had the lowest life expectancy in the world, according to the WHO. There are differences in distribution, particularly skewed due to infant and childhood mortality rates, but I'd still expect to see significantly lower rates of late-onset diseases in Zimbabwe. Even looking at the percentage of 70+ year-olds with a given disease, I'd expect significant survivor bias; if people don't live long once they get a given disease, the percentage of the population with that disease is low. You need to be much healthier in Zimbabwe in order to reach old age.
Differences in access to diagnosis can also skew statistics. We don't actually ever know prevalence of a given disease, only diagnosis rates (and perhaps gross estimates of underdiagnosis and false positive diagnostic rates).
Given the factors above, looking at any late-onset disease, I'd expect that the percentage of people living long enough to be diagnosed is much lower in Zimbabwe. Even when just looking at people over the age of 70, I'd expect the percentage living with any given disease that significantly affects life expectancy to be much lower in Zimbabwe.
Having a good healthcare system deceptively skews lots of health-related statistics.
As far as factors related to the article, Western diet is probably much higher in sugar and meat than an average Zimbabwean diet over the past 70 years. I have several dentist friends here in Hong Kong who mention patients being skeptical about modern dental practices because their grandparents never had problems, forgetting that their grandparents had diets much higher in plants and much lower in sugar.
Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's
#66P. 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…
This is tangential to your post but flossing is one in a series of things (including: washing and refrigerating eggs, vaccinating for chicken pox, circumcision) that Americans insist are absolutely critical for health but that are virtually nonexistent in Europe (or at least here in the Netherlands)
Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's
#67This 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…
There's also nano-hydroxyapatite (n-Ha), a bioactive form of calcium apatite that has been found to stick to dentine and help remineralize your teeth [1] [2]. It's popular in Japan, where it's even added to things like sports drinks. It's not easy to get in the West yet. The only toothpaste I know with n-Ha is Boka [3], and there's a more expensive Japanese one on Amazon called Apagard Premio [4]. [1] https://www.ncb…
The Apagard Premio stuff works. After my dentist saw my results he started importing it to sell out of his own practice.
Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's
#68Earlier quoted context omitted.
"There's no good evidence that flossing is effective for preventing dental carries and periodontal disease vs brushing alone" is not the same as "flossing is not effective for preventing dental carries and periodontal disease vs brushing alone." Just because evidence for something doesn't exist or is weak doesn't mean it doesn't work, it just means we haven't done the high quality randomized studies to prove it works…
There are whole countries where flossing is not a thing. Fluoridated water protects your teeth. The rest may be just culture.
Almost all cultures have some mechanism of cleaning larger food particles between teeth, particularly back teeth. But, more to the point -- absence of evidence is not evidence of absence:
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/tossing-flossing-2016081...
Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's
#69Earlier quoted context omitted.
If it's 10 minutes, it goes into ~60 hours/year territory, which is about how much time you get off for a week long vacation.
Hmm, I think I’m missing the point you’re trying to make. That those 10 minutes every day will add up to the week long vacation if you skip flossing?
Basically, yes.
Re: Brush your teeth – postpone Alzheimer's
#70Wow, this is the kind of article that amazes me on HN. And why I keep coming back.