A examine aiming to ascertain if the substitution of missing enamel with fixed prostheses might guard from cognitive decline was presented at the 52nd Annual Conference & Exhibition of the AADOCR, in conjunction with the 47th Annual Assembly of the CADR. The AADOCR/CADR Annual Conference & Exhibition took place at the Oregon Convention Heart in Portland on March 15-18, 2023.
The study by Elizabeth Kaye of Boston University examined 577 adult men in the VA Normative Getting older Study (NAS) and Dental Longitudinal Examine. Tooth status and style of alternative, if any, have been recorded at triennial dental tests (1969-2001). Masticatory effectiveness was assessed with carrot chewing assessments. The Spatial Copying Job (SCT) was administered up to four periods among 1995 and 2001. The investigators outlined very poor cognition as any weighted SCT rating <13 (lowest tertile of initial SCT scores in all NAS participants). Tooth-level Cox proportional regression, accounting for clustering within individuals, estimated the hazard of poor cognition, adjusted for education, epilepsy medication use, and time-varying values of tooth status (present, absent, fixed bridge/implant, removable replacement), age, cigarette smoking, and coronary heart disease.
The mean age at initial cognitive testing was 68±7 years. Forty-five percent of men had at least one low SCT score. Twenty-nine percent of participants lost no teeth during follow-up, 34% lost teeth that were not replaced, 13% had missing teeth subsequently replaced with fixed prostheses, and 25% had missing teeth replaced with removable prostheses. New fixed prostheses were associated with a lower hazard (HR=0.72, 95%CI=0.52-0.99) of poor cognition while new removable prostheses were associated with a higher hazard (HR=1.26, 95% CI=1.01-1.56). Loss of a tooth with no replacement was not associated with a significantly higher hazard (HR=1.05 95% CI=0.91-1.21) of poor cognition. Masticatory ability declined 6% in men with new fixed prostheses compared to 9%, 10%, and 13% in men with no tooth loss, new removable prostheses, and tooth loss but no replacement, respectively.
The study found that the replacement of missing teeth with fixed prostheses may protect against cognitive decline, and conservation of masticatory ability may play a role in the protective association.
More information:
This research was presented as part of the Interactive Talk presentation, “Fixed Prosthetic Replacements May Lower Cognitive Impairment Risk,” which took place on Thursday, March 16th, 2023, at 8:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time (UTC-07:00) during the “Oral and General Health” session from 8 a.m.—9:30 a.m.
Provided by
International Association for Dental Research
Citation:
Study examines whether replacements for missing teeth lower the risk of poor cognition (2023, March 17)
retrieved 3 May 2023
from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2023-03-teeth-poor-cognition.html
This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no
part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.
