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Review
. 2015 Jun;7(6):241-6.
doi: 10.4103/1947-2714.159325.

Association between Periodontitis and Alzheimer's Disease

Keshava Abbayya  1 , Nagraj Y Puthanakar  2 , Sanjay Naduwinmani  3 , Y S Chidambar  4
Affiliations
Review

Association between Periodontitis and Alzheimer's Disease

Keshava Abbayya et al. N Am J Med Sci. 2015 Jun.

Abstract

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegenerative disease which significantly increases with age. Its onset can be either early or late. AD is characterized by the salient inflammatory features, microglial activation, and increased levels of proinflammatory cytokines which contribute to the inflammatory status of the central nervous system (CNS). Whereas, periodontitis is a common oral infection associated with the gram negative anaerobic bacteria. Periodontitis can be marked as a "low-grade systemic disease" by release of proinflammatory cytokines into systemic circulation and elevation of C-reactive protein (CRP). Inflammation is known to play a pivotal role in both the disease process serving as a connecting link between periodontitis and AD. The present review throws a light on possible enigmatic link between AD and periodontitis. This review is designed by collecting data from PubMed database using key words like "Alzheimer's disease", "inflammation", "periodontitis", and "proinflammatory cytokines".

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; Inflammation; Periodontitis; Proinflammatory cytokines.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest: None declared.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Pathogenesis of periodontitis
Figure 2
Figure 2
Systemic outcomes due to periodontal diseases
Figure 3
Figure 3
Possible pathway between periodontal infection and AD
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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