I don’t discuss this as typically as I most likely ought to.
My mother had Alzheimer’s and my dad had ALS with dementia. Watching your mother and father slowly lose the very factor that makes them them — modifications how you consider each selection you make, each single day.
The mouth-brain connection is, sadly, not summary for me as a result of I’ve lived it.
After I take a look at the analysis on Alzheimer’s and dementia, one sample retains surfacing: the illness course of begins a long time earlier than the primary symptom. The plaques that present up on a scan at 75? The mobile harm that drives them begins at 40. Perhaps earlier.
The window to forestall it’s now.
And right here’s what most neurologists nonetheless gained’t inform you — two of essentially the most highly effective issues you are able to do to guard your mind contain your mouth.
One you do within the morning. One you do at evening.
Within the morning: inexperienced tea
I’ve been ingesting inexperienced tea each morning for years, and the rationale I maintain coming again to it isn’t the caffeine. It’s a compound referred to as EGCG.
EGCG (epigallocatechin gallate) is among the most studied plant compounds in neuroprotection analysis. It crosses the blood-brain barrier.
A number of research now hyperlink common inexperienced tea consumption to meaningfully decrease charges of cognitive decline — the most important, a 2006 cohort examine out of Japan following practically 30,000 adults, discovered that individuals who drank essentially the most inexperienced tea had a 26% decrease danger of cognitive impairment.
However right here’s the half virtually no one talks about: EGCG can be one of many solely plant compounds proven to selectively inhibit Streptococcus mutans — the first cavity-causing micro organism — with out disrupting the remainder of the oral microbiome.
Most issues we attain for to “kill micro organism” within the mouth (mouthwashes, peroxide rinses, even sure important oils) take a wrecking ball to the entire ecosystem. You’ll be able to consider EGCG as extra of a scalpel.
A wholesome oral microbiome is not only about avoiding cavities. The identical dysbiosis that lets pathogenic oral micro organism thrive is more and more linked to heart problems, metabolic dysfunction, and — sure — Alzheimer’s.
P. gingivalis, the micro organism most related to gum illness, has been discovered within the mind tissue of Alzheimer’s sufferers. The mouth-brain axis is actual, and inexperienced tea works on each ends of it.
I drink this powdered inexperienced tea due to how they supply and course of it — triple-screened for heavy metals and pesticides, cold-extracted into crystals that dissolve immediately.
At evening: magnesium
Most individuals take magnesium for sleep. However there’s so rather more to the story…
Your mind has a waste-clearance system referred to as the glymphatic system. It’s primarily the mind’s in a single day janitorial crew — and it primarily runs throughout slow-wave sleep. That is when your mind flushes metabolic waste merchandise, together with amyloid-beta, the protein related to Alzheimer’s plaques.
Should you’re not moving into deep slow-wave sleep lengthy sufficient, that clearance doesn’t totally occur. Evening after evening, 12 months after 12 months…think about the cumulative results.
Magnesium is proven in medical analysis to meaningfully enhance slow-wave sleep structure — not simply show you how to go to sleep, however get you into the stage of sleep the place the cleansing really occurs.
I take 500mg each evening of this magnesium complement, 1-2 hours earlier than mattress. It’s vital that you just select a magnesium that is top of the range and rigorously examined. Most dietary supplements comprise one or two types at most. However magnesium is concerned in over 300 enzymatic processes within the physique, and completely different types have completely different mechanisms and goal tissues. Your mind, your muscle groups, your cardiovascular system — they every reply to completely different types.
These two issues — inexperienced tea within the morning, magnesium at evening — additionally occur to help your oral microbiome in methods most individuals miss.
Magnesium is crucial for wholesome saliva manufacturing. Saliva is your mouth’s built-in protection system: it remineralizes enamel, neutralizes acid, and retains pathogenic micro organism in test. Magnesium deficiency quietly undermines all of that. Most of us are poor and don’t understand it.
And we’ve already talked about what EGCG does for bacterial steadiness within the mouth.
So these aren’t simply mind dietary supplements. They’re a part of a whole-body technique that begins within the mouth.
The one different factor I’d add…
Should you’re not sleeping effectively — actually not sleeping effectively, and particularly should you snore, get up drained, or have been informed you cease respiratory at evening — no complement goes to totally compensate for untreated sleep apnea. The glymphatic system can’t do its job in case your airway is collapsing in a single day.
Sleep apnea is dramatically underdiagnosed in ladies. The signs current in another way: fatigue, morning complications, problem concentrating, waking up exhausted. If that sounds acquainted, please search for a sleep specialist by AADSM.org — that’s the American Academy of Dental Sleep Medication. They practice dentists particularly in airway and sleep, and so they can typically assist when conventional sleep docs have missed issues.
And should you haven’t labored with a practical dentist, somebody skilled to take a look at your mouth as a part of your entire well being image — airway, microbiome, sleep, all of it — you’ll be able to search the Purposeful Dentist Listing to search out one close to you.
My mother and father didn’t have any of this. They didn’t know to search for these connections. I can by no means be completely positive it might have modified every little thing — however I give it some thought.
I do what I can, each morning and each evening, as a result of that’s the window I’ve.
I hope you employ yours.
— Mark
Citations and Additional Studying
The landmark examine: The one most vital piece of analysis on this area stays Dominy et al. (2019), printed in Science Advances: Porphyromonas gingivalis in Alzheimer’s illness brains: Proof for illness causation and therapy with small-molecule inhibitors. The researchers recognized P. gingivalis — the keystone pathogen in gum illness — within the mind tissue of Alzheimer’s sufferers. Critically, gingipain ranges (the poisonous enzymes P. gingivalis produces) correlated with tau tangles and ubiquitin pathology, two hallmarks of Alzheimer’s. This was the primary examine to suggest a causal, not simply correlational, hyperlink. → Learn it at Science Advances
The doubled dementia danger: A 2019 retrospective cohort examine utilizing Nationwide Well being Insurance coverage information discovered {that a} prognosis of persistent periodontitis was related to a 95% greater danger of growing dementia — even amongst individuals who in any other case maintained wholesome way of life habits. → Referenced in: ScienceDirect narrative assessment, January 2025
The MRI proof: In 2024, researchers at Columbia College’s Faculty of Dental Medication, led by Dr. Panos Papapanou, printed the primary epidemiological examine linking medical, microbial, and serological options of periodontitis to structural MRI findings related to Alzheimer’s illness and associated dementias. This issues as a result of it exhibits measurable mind modifications, not simply statistical danger. → Columbia College Faculty of Dental Medication
The systematic literature assessment: Villar, Paladini & Cossatis (2024), printed in The Journal of Prevention of Alzheimer’s Illness, analyzed 328 paperwork spanning 2000–2023 and recognized two main mechanisms connecting gum illness to mind pathology: systemic inflammatory cascades and direct microbial translocation into the central nervous system. → SpringerLink
The PRISMA-guided systematic assessment. A 2025 systematic assessment printed in Utilized Sciences (MDPI), following PRISMA pointers and utilizing the ROBINS-I bias evaluation device, synthesized human research on salivary and blood biomarkers and periodontal therapies within the context of Alzheimer’s. It concluded that periodontal illness is each a danger issue and a possible therapeutic goal for Alzheimer’s. → MDPI Utilized Sciences
Additional studying on my web site, Ask the Dentist
Can gingivitis trigger Alzheimer’s illness? — My most complete breakdown of the P. gingivalis analysis, the gingipain mechanism, and what it means virtually to your gum care.
The Oral Microbiome & Its Influence on Each Different System within the Physique — How oral dysbiosis connects to the gut-brain axis, heart problems, metabolic operate, and extra.
Interview: Why We Shouldn’t Ignore the Oral Microbiome — A dialog with researcher Cass Nelson-Dooley on the 45% bacterial overlap between the mouth and colon, and why the oral microbiome is the place to begin for whole-body well being.