Periodontal Disease and Neurodegeneration: The Possible Pathway and Contribution from Periodontal Infections

Abstract

Neurodegeneration is a process in which the neurons lose its structure, function and ultimately the death of the neurons follows. Various neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s etc., are thus gaining enormous interest in health plans. Scientists are in search of finding the various markers to detect the onset of neurodegeneration. So far, Amyloid-beta (Aβ) and neurofibrillary tangle are the two markers found in most neurodegenerative diseases. Besides that, neural inflammation is also considered as one of the parameters for the onset of neurodegeneration. Inflammation may be caused either by insult of central nervous system or by peripheral infections. Numerous microbes get a chance to enter into the brain due to bacterial infection especially periodontal infection. The current review summarises the role of periodontal infection and the mechanism via which it contributes for neurodegeneration.

Keywords

• alzheimer disease
• amyloid-beta
• gingivitis