Don't Let Gum Disease Go To Your Head

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Don't Let Gum Disease Go To Your Head

The fate of your brain may hang by a thread. Not the one unraveling on your shirt collar. Thread, as in a few inches of dental floss. Waxed, plain, flat, round, minty, cinnamon? It doesn't matter. Just use the stuff once a day. You know flossing is a great defense against gum disease and inflammation. Now, new evidence connects your brain and floss -- a recent study revealed that gum disease is a big risk factor for Alzheimer's and memory glitches. The researchers found that gum inflammation makes your risk for thinking snafus nine times higher than normal. When people in their 70s played a brain game, the ones with the highest levels of antibodies and inflammatory compounds from gum disease consistently had the lowest memory scores. There's also plenty of evidence that inflammation harms your brain, perhaps by interfering with the clean-up system that normally whisks risky brain cell poop -- like amyloid plaque -- out of your noggin. So work that floss every day. Don't quit if it makes your gums bleed, even though that may be a sign of infection. Keep flossing (your gums will love it) and call your dental practitioner, especially if she's forgotten what you look like. Keep your gums in the pink to keep your brain young.