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Periodontitis Tied to Impaired Brain Function

Medically reviewed by Carmen Pope, BPharm. Last updated on Jan 14, 2025.

By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter

TUESDAY, Jan. 14, 2025 -- Periodontitis might be a potential risk factor for impaired brain function even in individuals with normal cognition, according to a study published online Nov. 20 in the Journal of Periodontology.

Wei Ye, from the First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University in Hefei, China, and colleagues investigated the effects of periodontitis on brain function (intranetwork functional connectivity [FC] and internetwork FC). The analysis included periodontal findings and resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging from 51 middle-aged and elderly participants with normal cognition.

The researchers found differences in intranetwork FC among groups in the anterior default-mode network (aDMN), dorsal attention network, and dorsal sensorimotor network (dSMN). The analysis of internetwork FC showed increased FC between the auditory network and the ventral attention network (VAN), between the aDMN and the salience network (SN), and between the SN and the VAN. The analysis also showed decreased FC between the posterior default-mode network and the right frontoparietal network in the moderate-to-severe periodontitis group compared with those without periodontitis or with mild periodontitis. There was also an increase in internetwork FC between the dSMN and the VAN in those with moderate-to-severe periodontitis compared with no periodontitis. There was a significant correlation seen between altered intranetwork and internetwork FC with the periodontal clinical index.

"The present study indicates that periodontitis might be a potential risk factor for brain damage and provides a theoretical clue and a new treatment target for the early prevention of Alzheimer disease," the authors write.

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Posted January 2025

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