Folktandvården Eastmaninstitutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
Division of Oral Diagnostics and Rehabilitation, Department of Dental Medicine, Karolinska Institutet, Alfred Nobels Allé 8, Box 4064, 141 04, Huddinge, Sweden.
BMC Oral Health. 2021 Jun 9;21(1):297. doi: 10.1186/s12903-021-01654-5.
Epidemiological studies show an association between masticatory function and cognitive impairment. This has further strengthened the notion that tooth loss and impaired masticatory function may be risk factors for dementia and cognitive decline. Animal experiments have indicated a causal relationship and several possible mechanisms have been discussed. This evidence is, however, lacking in humans. Therefore, in the current interventional study, we aim to investigate the effect of rehabilitation of masticatory function on cognition in older adults.
Eighty patients indicated for prosthodontic rehabilitation will be randomly assigned to an experimental or a control group. Participants will conduct neuropsychological assessments, masticatory performance tests, saliva tests, optional magnetic resonance imaging, and answer questionnaires on oral health impact profiles and hospital anxiety and depression scale before, 3 months, and 1 year after oral rehabilitation. The difference between the two groups is that the control group will be tested an additional time, (at an interval of about 3 months) before the onset of the oral rehabilitation procedure. The primary outcome is a change in measures of episodic memory performance.
Although tooth loss and masticatory function are widespread in older people, it is still an underexplored modifiable risk factor potentially contributing to the development of cognitive impairment. If rehabilitation of masticatory function shows positive effects on the neurocognitive function, this will have great implications on future health care for patients with impaired masticatory status. The present project may provide a new avenue for the prevention of cognitive decline in older individuals.
The protocol for the study was retrospectively registered in ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04458207, dated 02-07-2020.
流行病学研究表明，咀嚼功能与认知障碍之间存在关联。这进一步强化了这样一种观点，即牙齿缺失和咀嚼功能受损可能是痴呆和认知能力下降的危险因素。动物实验表明存在因果关系，并讨论了几种可能的机制。然而，这种证据在人类中并不存在。因此，在目前的干预性研究中，我们旨在研究咀嚼功能康复对老年人认知的影响。
将 80 名需要进行修复治疗的患者随机分为实验组和对照组。参与者将在口腔修复治疗前、3 个月和 1 年后进行神经心理学评估、咀嚼性能测试、唾液测试、可选的磁共振成像，并回答口腔健康影响概况和医院焦虑抑郁量表的问卷。两组的区别在于对照组将在口腔修复程序开始前额外进行一次测试（大约每 3 个月一次）。主要结果是情景记忆表现测量的变化。
尽管牙齿缺失和咀嚼功能在老年人中很普遍，但它仍然是一个未被充分探索的可改变的危险因素，可能导致认知障碍的发展。如果咀嚼功能康复对神经认知功能有积极影响，这将对未来有咀嚼功能障碍的患者的医疗保健产生重大影响。本项目可能为预防老年人认知能力下降提供新途径。
该研究方案于 2020 年 7 月 2 日在 ClinicalTrials.gov 标识符：NCT04458207 中进行了回顾性注册。
