Dental
Episodes
Dr. Rhonda Patrick discusses GLP-1 agonists, alpha-lipoic acid, ubiquinone vs. ubiquinol, calcium needs, and liquid biopsy cancer screening.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick answers audience questions on various health, nutrition, and science topics in this Q&A session.
Dr. Rhonda Patrick answers audience questions on various health, nutrition, and science topics in this Q&A session.
-
Dr. Rhonda Patrick discusses GLP-1 agonists, alpha-lipoic acid, ubiquinone vs. ubiquinol, calcium needs, and liquid biopsy cancer screening.
-
Dr. Rhonda Patrick answers audience questions on various health, nutrition, and science topics in this Q&A session.
-
Dr. Rhonda Patrick answers audience questions on various health, nutrition, and science topics in this Q&A session.
Topic Pages
News & Publications
-
Vitamin D promotes tooth remineralization, reducing the risk of cavities. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Tooth decay – a risk factor for cavities and tooth loss – often begins as white spots on the enamel, an early sign of demineralization. Strategies that promote tooth remineralization can reduce the need for invasive dental procedures. A 2022 study found that vitamin D promotes tooth remineralization, potentially reducing the risk of cavities.
Researchers gave 40 healthy adults vitamin D supplements (1,000 IU) for six weeks. They collected saliva samples from the participants at the beginning of the intervention and again at the third and sixth weeks. They exposed healthy, extracted teeth to an acidic solution to mimic the changes in pH that normally occur in the mouth in response to foods and beverages, causing demineralization. Then, they exposed the teeth to the saliva samples for 12 hours and assessed their mineral content, a measure of hardness.
They found that the amount of calcium and phosphorus in the teeth decreased considerably after exposure to the acidic solution – an indicator of demineralization. However, both minerals increased in the teeth after exposure to saliva collected from participants taking vitamin D.
These findings suggest that vitamin D promotes tooth remineralization, potentially reducing the risk of cavities. They also align with other findings showing that vitamin D helps treat gingivitis (gum disease), a major cause of tooth loss.
Vitamin D is a fat-soluble vitamin and hormone that participates in many physiological processes, including calcium balance, blood pressure regulation, immune function, and cell growth. Poor vitamin D status drives the pathogenesis of many acute and chronic diseases, including rickets, osteoporosis, multiple sclerosis, and cancer. Learn more about vitamin D in our comprehensive overview article.
-
Poor oral health may triple Alzheimer's disease risk. www.brainandlife.org
Oral health is intricately linked to overall well-being, with emerging research identifying associations between poor oral health and an increased risk of many chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer. A recent study found that oral diseases associated with tooth loss more than tripled the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease.
Researchers assessed Alzheimer’s disease risk among more than 32 million people. They categorized the participants as having normal or poor oral health and assessed serum biomarkers associated with Alzheimer’s, including blood glucose, lipids, and C-reactive protein (a marker of inflammation).
They found that more than 1.2 million participants had poor oral health, while the remainder had normal oral health. Those with poor oral health were more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease than those with normal oral health, regardless of age, gender, or serum biomarkers. Those with oral conditions associated with tooth loss were more than three times more likely to develop Alzheimer’s.
The findings from this large epidemiological study suggest that poor oral health markedly increases a person’s risk for developing Alzheimer’s disease. In vitro research further supports these findings, demonstrating that oral bacteria colonize the brain and release toxins that disrupt the blood-brain barrier, impairing its function and increasing the risk of Alzheimer’s. And research in mice shows that oral bacteria over-stimulate microglia, impairing their ability to eliminate amyloid-beta, a harmful protein linked to Alzheimer’s.