Abdulhade Ganem Atheer, Sandeepa N C, Hassan Alkhayri Afnan, Mohammed Mousa Yosra
Department of Orthodontics, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia.
DDS-Oral Biology, College of Dentistry, King Khalid University, Abha, Saudi Arabia.
Neurosci J. 2019 Jul 24;2019:6086515. doi: 10.1155/2019/6086515. eCollection 2019.
It is known that cognitive impairment is linked to aging and neurobiological, psychological, and social factors. Recently, however, mastication and the number of teeth has also attracted attention, with a previous case control study reporting a correlation between the loss of teeth and Alzheimer's disease.
To investigate possible relationships between cognitive function and various demographic variables, stress, medical history, and number of natural teeth in a specified female population.
MATERIALS & METHODS: A sample of the Saudi female population, 40-65 years of age, who visited the King Khalid University College of Dentistry (Abha, Saudi Arabia), was studied. Education, occupation, perceived stress, and medical history, along with the number of remaining teeth, were assessed. The Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) was used to assess cognitive performance and the results were statistically analyzed.
Subjects were divided into those with mild, moderate, and severe impairment based on MMSE score; the association between age, education, occupation, medical history, and cognitive function demonstrated statistically significant results. Fifty percent of subjects with 0-16 teeth exhibited severe cognitive impairment. Of the cognitive abilities, attention, recall, and language skills were linked to the number of remaining teeth. When subjects were categorized into only high and low cognitive impairment based on MMSE score, regression analysis did not reveal a significant correlation between any of the studied variables and cognitive impairment.
Results of the present study add to the recent data and head towards the theory of likely connection between the number of teeth and hippocampus-dependent cognitive functioning. Results of regression analysis revealed an absence of conclusive relation in the latter part of study. Longitudinal analyses including comprehensive clinical dental data with brain-imaging will shed further light on probable causal relationship(s).
众所周知，认知障碍与衰老以及神经生物学、心理和社会因素有关。然而，最近咀嚼和牙齿数量也引起了关注，之前的一项病例对照研究报告了牙齿缺失与阿尔茨海默病之间的相关性。
调查特定女性人群中认知功能与各种人口统计学变量、压力、病史和天然牙数量之间的可能关系。
对访问沙特国王哈立德大学牙科学院（沙特阿拉伯阿卜哈）的40至65岁沙特女性人群样本进行了研究。评估了教育程度、职业、感知压力、病史以及剩余牙齿数量。使用简易精神状态检查表（MMSE）评估认知表现，并对结果进行统计分析。
根据MMSE评分将受试者分为轻度、中度和重度损伤组；年龄、教育程度、职业、病史与认知功能之间的关联显示出具有统计学意义的结果。牙齿数量为0至16颗的受试者中有50%表现出严重认知障碍。在认知能力方面，注意力、记忆力和语言技能与剩余牙齿数量有关。当根据MMSE评分仅将受试者分为高认知损伤和低认知损伤时，回归分析未发现任何研究变量与认知损伤之间存在显著相关性。
本研究结果补充了近期数据，并支持牙齿数量与海马体依赖的认知功能之间可能存在联系的理论。回归分析结果显示在研究后期缺乏确凿的关联。包括全面临床牙科数据与脑成像的纵向分析将进一步阐明可能的因果关系。
