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LONDON, UK: The memories and walking speeds of adults who have lost all of their teeth decline more rapidly than those adults who still have some of their own teeth, researchers at London’s Global University (UCL) have found. The results showed that the people with none of their own teeth performed approximately 10 per cent worse in both memory and walking speed tests than the people with teeth.
The study looked at 3,166 adults, aged 60 years and older, from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) and compared their performance in memory and walking speed tests.
The association between total tooth loss and memory was explained after the results were fully adjusted for a wide range of factors, including sociodemographic characteristics, existing health problems, physical health, health behaviours (such as smoking and drinking), depression, relevant biomarkers, and particularly socioeconomic status. However, after adjusting the results for all possible factors, people without teeth still walked slightly slower than those with teeth.
These links between older adults in England losing all their natural teeth and having poorer memory and worse physical function 10 years later were more evident in adults aged between 60 and 74 years than in those aged 75 years and older.
“Tooth loss could be used as an early marker of mental and physical decline in older age, particularly among 60- to 74-year-olds,” said lead author Dr Georgios Tsakos from the Epidemiology & Public Health Department at UCL. “We find that common causes of tooth loss and mental and physical decline are often linked to socioeconomic status, highlighting the importance of broader social determinants such as education and wealth to improve the oral and general health of the poorest members of society. Regardless of what is behind the link between tooth loss and decline in function, recognising excessive tooth loss presents an opportunity for early identification of adults who are at a higher risk of faster mental and physical decline later in their life. There are many factors likely to influence this decline, such as lifestyle and psychosocial factors that are amenable to change”, Tsakos explained.
The study, titled “Tooth loss associated with physical and cognitive decline in older adults”, was published online in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
