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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
by Someone1234 7y ago
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 of incredible). However, this single 2018 study is far from the body of evidence needed to make a claim on causal link.
That being said: Please brush and floss. There's no downside. Even if it is unlinked to Alzheimer's you've gained something and lost nothing. You'll thank yourself in the long run either way.
PS - I'm not even calling the science here bad (it is not). I am simply saying, this is the start of a marathon and the article is treating it like the end. Ten years ago similar articles on prion-based infections causing Alzheimer's was the hotness, until it wasn't.
- hammock 7y ago>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 (PFAS) that accumulate in your body and cause problems.
- tenebrisalietum 7y agoYou shouldn't be swallowing your toothpaste or your floss.
- yladiz 7y agoIf you swallow your floss, you would get to live the life as a dog owner with worms except you are the dog and the owner.
- testvox 7y agoBut then again brushing with fluoridated toothpaste is one of the few dental interventions with good evidence supporting it's effectiveness (unlike flossing for instance).
- vixen99 7y agoFor sure, as always that which seems obvious may not be the case. On the face of it though, awaiting a definitive result as to the benefits or not of flossing and neglecting to remove that gooey matrix of dextrans on and around your teeth which certainly provides a happy hunting ground for a diverse collection of bugs, is possibly not the best strategy. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_plaque https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dental_plaque
- mattmanser 7y agoI 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.
- bluGill 7y agoYes, but that is all anecdotes. Nobody with any intelligence seriously believes flossing is useless, but we don't have science to prove it, and until we have science there is room for doubt. If you don't know any science it is reasonable to argue that a heavy object falls faster than a light one, but once you do some science it isn't reasonable. (it is also reasonable to argue the other way, but most people would laugh at your argument until science proves them wrong at which point they should change their stance)
- mattmanser 7y ago
- lostmsu 7y agoThere's always a downside: the time lost. Over a year we loose 10+ hours on that.
- ohaideredevs 7y agoYou would spend much more than 10 hours on dentists appointments if you don't do this. Brushing and flossing properly cannot be stated as a loss of anything - time, money, health, whatever, no matter how you try to frame it. Don't delude yourself and others.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- yladiz 7y agoAdditionally, you may not notice it but it you don’t floss you are likely to have bad breath due to the food trapped between your teeth (it depends on the gaps between your teeth but any food that sits in your mouth will eventually smell like shit). Outside of the other benefits of flossing, knowing that my breath smells better and not worrying about it is worth the 5-10 minute effort once a day.
- lostmsu 7y agoIf 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.
- azangru 7y ago> 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...
- fooey 7y agoI 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.
- johnnycab 7y ago>I don't know where I picked up the idea It is possible that you might have been pre-conditioned to think that way by the colossal dental industry; which has put out a fair amount of graphic imagery ranging from the saccharine to alarming, surrounding various aspects of oral hygiene and endorsing a variety of bacteria destroying toothpastes & mouth-washes to plaque-hunting rotating brushes in multitude of configurations etc., which compounded by this topic appearing with some regularity on HN might be reinforcing some of your preconceived notions. Regardless, maintaining basic oral hygiene should be de rigueur, despite how feasible or tenuous the link(s) to other conditions might be.
- hackinthebochs 7y agoA 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?
- yxhuvud 7y agoIt 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.
- Smithalicious 7y agoThis 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)