Tuesday, February 05, 2019
30-second disproof
The "science" magazines are agog over a link between gum disease and Alzheimers.
New "Scientist" has a big cover headline:
Read this and you'll never skip brushing again!
The study finds that typical gum bacteria have been found in the brains of Alzheimers patients.
What implications and recommendations can you draw from this?
None.
Simple debunk: Everyone has mouth bacteria. If those bacteria crossed the blood-brain barrier in Alzheimers patients, it DOESN'T mean those people failed to brush. In fact it COULD mean that those people had LESS bacteria than others.
When you have MORE of one pathogen, your immune system builds defenses. When a pathogen is rare, there's less defense. That's why newly introduced viruses and bacteria can wipe out an entire population.
I can think of a strong example in my own family. Yeah, anecdotal, small N, but it's a good solid N. My father's family had perfect teeth. AFAIK my father never had a single cavity. He died of Alzheimers. His mother also had perfect teeth and died early from "senility", before Alzheimers was a known quantity. My mother's family had totally bad gums. Most of them lost all their teeth by age 35. None of them lost any brainpower before death.
Labels: Constants and Variables
¶ 12:26 AM
