The last bite

Multiple losses

As teeth and oral health are deeply ingrained in our social fabric, it is perhaps not surprising that there may be a link between tooth loss and memory loss. A study by psychologists and dentists from Sweden and Norway has suggested this following examination of 273 participants in a research study. After taking other factors into account they found that older people with most of their own teeth had on average a four per cent better memory than those without.

The scientists believe that losing teeth may lead to fewer sensory signals being sent to the hippocampus in the brain, a region central to memory formation and retrieval. Indeed, the Japanese have been working with similar projects in recent years linking lack of good occlusion with similar memory and cognitive function.

Could it also be that on a purely practical level it makes sense of why people with dentures are so often losing them? Where did I read that?