Alzheimers

2019-01-28 — 2025-08-14

Wherein the role of oral pathogens in promoting brain amyloid deposition is outlined, and vaccines, anti-gingipain drugs, and amyloidosis treatments are noted as being investigated in clinical and preclinical studies.

health
life
mind
Figure 1

Various hypotheses about Alzheimer’s.

1 Amyloidosis

2 Do tooth bacteria cause Alzheimer’s?

subtitle: Your digestive system eating your brain Who knows? I’m not sure how settled this research is, but it could really incentivize dental hygiene.

According to this pop-science article and its many journal references, gingivitis destroys your brain by enabling P. gingivalis to build up and cause brain damage via “gingipains.”

PR on Melbourne research into gingivitis vaccines.

This company gets some free publicity for its anti-gingipain drugs.

Sanctimonious but sensible article about how to brush your teeth to minimize this nastiness.

3 References

Dominy, Lynch, Ermini, et al. 2019. “Porphyromonas Gingivalis in Alzheimer’s Disease Brains: Evidence for Disease Causation and Treatment with Small-Molecule Inhibitors.” Science Advances.
Fitzpatrick, Wijeyewickrema, and Pike. 2009. “The Gingipains: Scissors and Glue of the Periodontal Pathogen, Porphyromonas Gingivalis.” Future Microbiology.
Gatz, Mortimer, Fratiglioni, et al. 2006. “Potentially modifiable risk factors for dementia in identical twins.” Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association.
Ilievski, Zuchowska, Green, et al. 2018. “Chronic Oral Application of a Periodontal Pathogen Results in Brain Inflammation, Neurodegeneration and Amyloid Beta Production in Wild Type Mice.” PLOS ONE.
Ishida, Ishihara, Ishida, et al. 2017. “Periodontitis Induced by Bacterial Infection Exacerbates Features of Alzheimer’s Disease in Transgenic Mice.” Npj Aging and Mechanisms of Disease.
Noble, Borrell, Papapanou, et al. 2009. “Periodontitis Is Associated with Cognitive Impairment Among Older Adults: Analysis of NHANES-III.” Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery, and Psychiatry.
Poole, Singhrao, Chukkapalli, et al. 2015. “Active Invasion of Porphyromonas Gingivalis and Infection-Induced Complement Activation in ApoE -/- Mice Brains.” Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease.