Is Targeting Gum Disease Bacteria a Legitimate Treatment or Preventative for Alzheimer’s Dementia?

Posted on July 30, 2019 | 2 Comments

Most cavemen didn’t live long enough to get dementia

Several respected researchers think that Alzheimer’s dementia may primarily be an infectious disease, particularly related to gum bacteria.

From MedScape:

LOS ANGELES — As more disappointing results emerge from anti-amyloid drug trials in Alzheimer’s disease (AD), there is growing interest in novel treatment approaches for this condition.

One such approach is based on the hypothesis that Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg), the bacteria involved in periodontal disease, may cause AD. The biopharmaceutical company Cortexyme Inc is testing this theory with an investigational agent COR388, which targets gingipains, the toxic proteases released by Pg.  Early results show the drug is well tolerated and promising in terms of biomarker findings. Organizers hope that a phase 2/3 trial of the treatment now under way will provide definitive efficacy results.

Source: Gum Disease Bacteria a Novel Treatment Target for Alzheimer’s?

Steve Parker, M.D.

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2 responses to “Is Targeting Gum Disease Bacteria a Legitimate Treatment or Preventative for Alzheimer’s Dementia?”

  1. Benjamin David Steele | July 31, 2019 at 7:28 am |

    This reminds one of the work by Dr. Weston Price. He wasn’t looking at dementia, as far as I know. But he definitely found dental health to be closely associated with health in general. That should be unsurprising.

    Also, from a functional medicine viewpoint, there is the question of what allows the wrong things to pass into the brain. The very things that contribute a leaky blood-brain barrier also do the same for a leaky gut. And that has much to do with diet, along with other factors such as stress.

    Gum disease quite likely does play a role. On the other hand, Dr. Dale Bredesen’s clinical work indicates that there are diverse factors involved. This is supported by the fact that even some dentists get Alzheimer’s.

    My uncle is a dentist and he was diagnosed with this condition. He followed all of the conventional advice about health: ate ‘balanced’ meals, stayed physically active, had regular visits to the doctor, etc.