October 2, 2025 • 24 mins
The intricate connection between your oral health and brain function might be the missing piece in understanding cognitive decline. In our latest deep dive, we explore the alarming relationship between gum disease and dementia that new research continues to uncover. What begins as minor bleeding during brushing could potentially contribute to serious cognitive issues later in life.
Your mouth harbors as many bacteria as your colon—a startling reality that underscores why dental care goes far beyond fresh breath and cavity prevention. When gums become inflamed and bleed, they create pathways for bacteria like P. gingivalis to enter your bloodstream and travel throughout your body, including your brain. Scientists are now finding these oral bacteria in the brains of Alzheimer's patients, suggesting a direct link between gum health and cognitive function.
For those already experiencing memory challenges or caring for someone with dementia, maintaining oral hygiene becomes increasingly difficult, creating a dangerous cycle where declining cognitive function leads to poorer oral health, which may then accelerate brain deterioration. We discuss practical solutions for caregivers, including specialized dental tools that can make daily care more manageable. From electric toothbrushes with enhanced grips to water flossers and interdental brushes, these adaptive approaches can help maintain oral health even as dexterity diminishes.
Prevention remains our most powerful tool. Early intervention in gum disease is highly effective and completely reversible, while advanced periodontal disease becomes a chronic condition requiring lifelong management. Alongside proper dental care, we explore complementary brain-health practices including physical exercise, continued learning, and meditation—all working together to protect your cognitive function for years to come. Whether you're concerned about your own health or caring for a loved one, understanding this mouth-brain connection offers a proactive approach to preserving quality of life and independence.
Register now RunYourMouth.org
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to the Semide Dental Podcast.
We're here to provide youexpert insights on how dentistry
can improve your quality oflife and extend your health span
.
I'm Alex Semide and I'm apracticing dentist, and I'll be
your host, along with JeremyWolf.
Enjoy the show.
Welcome back to Tribe to a newepisode of the Semide Dental
(00:22):
Podcast.
Mr Wolf, how are you doingtoday?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Living la vida loca.
Last time I was living thedream, now I'm living la vida
loca, living la vida loca.
Always doing well, my friendAlways.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Ricky Martin in the 90s.
Nothing better than that, yeah.
So today we have a veryimportant podcast, a topic that
really hits very near and dearto my heart, and that is
(00:55):
dementia and generally cognitivedecline.
And specifically today we wantto talk a little bit about how
your mouth actually plays apretty significant role in that
process.
Um, more and more researchkeeps coming out as to the, the
relationship between the healthof our gums and the health of
(01:17):
our brain, and we're going totalk a little bit about, you
know, how that works, what wecan do about it and some signs
for caregivers and ourselves tolook out for to.
You know, if not altogetheravoid cognitive decline, at
least minimize it to improve ourquality of life really.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, speaking of caregivers, I just did earlier
this week, a podcast withComfort Keepers they do in-home
care and we talked about thisvery issue.
We talked about dementia andAlzheimer's and how that relates
to the caregiver side of things.
And this also hits hard for meas well, because I've had family
members.
My grandmother suffered fromAlzheimer's and I watched her go
(02:05):
through a horrible cognitivedecline and, if I'm being honest
, I never even thought about theconnection to your oral health
and your mental clarity, and Iknow that's a big thing for you.
So, definitely interested toget into this, why don't you
start off by kind ofdistinguishing between dementia
and alzheimer, and then we'll gofrom there?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Sure, yeah.
So dementia is kind of like anumbrella term for cognitive
decline, right, and cognitivedecline, we've all seen it,
right, a little bit of memoryloss, so maybe you have a loved
one who kind of repeats the samestory a few times or forgets
(02:47):
where they put their keys, oryou know that sort of thing and
we, we generally just kind ofchalk it up oh, they're a little
bit older, maybe they just gota lot going on, right, and but
that is generally what it means.
And obviously that progressesand progresses to the point
where, you know, it becomes very, very difficult for the patient
and the people around them.
(03:08):
And then Alzheimer's is aspecific diagnosis, right, it's
the most common type of dementia, so it's the one that we hear
about the most.
It affects 6 million Americans,right, which is a really
sobering number, that's crazy.
(03:28):
It really is, and the kind ofthe key hallmarks of Alzheimer's
that we hear a lot about arethese plaques in the brain,
these protein tangles andultimately like, like brain cell
death and lack of function.
(03:49):
Right, so that's what leads tothe memory loss and, ultimately,
loss of independence.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So obviously, age and genetics play a huge component
in this, as well as yourlifestyle and how you take care
of yourself.
But what about oral health?
Like inflammation and oralhealth, how is this playing into
the propensity for the body to,or the mind to, get afflicted
(04:21):
by these terrible ailments?
Speaker 1 (04:23):
to get afflicted by these terrible ailments.
Yeah, so for a very, very longtime we kind of had an idea of
how the whole cognitive declinething worked, but we still don't
have a full grasp on it.
We're kind of elucidating theprocess and figuring things out,
and what we're learning is thatinflammation plays a huge role
(04:45):
in the whole process and withthe mouth, specifically the, the
bacteria that we have in themouth.
You know, the mouth is a very,very unusual location of the
body, right, like it's inside us, but it communicates a lot with
the outside world and and andwhat happens in the mouth
(05:07):
doesn't?
It's like the opposite of vegas, right?
What happens in the mouth doesnot stay there.
Um, so you have I've said thison the show before the bacterial
concentration in your mouth isequal to the bacterial
concentration in your colon.
So that sink in for a secondright means you have a
(05:30):
tremendous amount of germs andbacteria in your mouth.
Now, it is because of ourmodern diets super important to
be on top of that of themaintenance that the mouth
requires, right, because ourmodern diets are basically
designed to help bacteriaproliferate.
(05:51):
Yeah, so we need to be very,very diligent with our brushing,
our flossing or water, picking,our home care to minimize the
amount of bacteria that we havein the mouth.
Why?
Very easy, because if you havea amount of bacteria that we
have in the mouth, why?
Very easy, because if you havea lot of bacteria in the mouth,
that leads to inflammation.
(06:12):
Right, a lot of bacteria isliterally a low-grade, chronic
infection of an area, right, sothat leads to inflammation.
That's where we start seeinggums get a little puffy, a
little red, right, maybe youbrush or floss and you see a
little bit of pink in the sinkright, a little bit of bleeding,
and you don't really make a bigdeal out of it.
(06:33):
But what's happening when yousee a little bit of blood?
Right, that means that somelittle blood vessel somewhere
burst open and is letting bloodout.
Now, if blood can get out, thatbacteria sludge that is
happening there can get intoyour bloodstream and now it has
(06:56):
free access to the highwaythroughout your body.
Right, so we're finding Some ofthese, specifically a bacteria
called P gingivalis.
Gingivalis means gingiva, whichliterally means gum tissue.
We're finding that bacteria inAlzheimer's patients brains,
(07:18):
right, so that just goes to showthat it is going in through the
gums because the gums aren'thealthy.
We have a little bit ofbleeding, bacteria gets in, it
travels around, it literallygoes to every single nook and
cranny in your body and we keeplearning more and more about how
that gum inflammation hasprofound impacts in every corner
(07:41):
of the body, including thebrain.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Fascinating stuff, speaking of the science, of it
right, and clearly there's a lotof studies and work being done
in this field.
What are some of the new thingsthat are coming out now?
Because I got to imagine that,as AI just keeps getting more
powerful and technology keepsincreasing, we're going to have
more solutions and more uh, moreways to deal with this stuff in
(08:09):
the future.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, I mean what?
What is AI going to to do inthe next two, five, 10, 20 years
?
I mean, who knows right?
But the amount of things thatwe see in the very near future
are really powerful screeningtools that are AI driven, spit
(08:45):
in a little cup and we'll beable to run all sorts of tests
on that saliva and see thingsthat could be markers of early
dementia, of early cognitivedecline.
And, you know, as the scienceprogresses, we'll be able to
figure out more and better waysof helping our brain withstand
that assault right and stayhealthier and functional longer.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, and it makes so much sense on its face, right
Like eat healthy, take care ofyourself, exercise, right, do
all the things that are going tooptimize the machine which is
our body.
Yet we've talked about this somany times with everything we do
, right Life happens.
Right Things come up and itbecomes difficult to maintain
(09:31):
this stuff.
One of the things I foundinteresting regarding diet as I
get older, I'm just more awareof this stuff and I was thinking
to myself like how important itis what we're putting in our
body to fuel.
And I went on chat and I said,hey, is there an app out there
and I know I'm sure there iswhere you can kind of like do
all lab tests and it willanalyze everything and then give
(09:52):
you like a specific, detailedbreakdown of a diet that will,
like it's customized for notjust your age, your weight and
all that kind of stuff, butactually your specific
biomarkers.
And that stuff exists, existsand there's companies out there
doing that now and I can see afuture where you know, obviously
we don't want to get too toostuck to that.
We still want to live our livesand we still want to have fun
and do things, but if you wantto live a long, productive life
(10:16):
and a prosperous life and avoidthese types of ailments, you
have to start thinking aboutthis stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's so important to have these conversations, just
to raise awareness, just to getpeople starting to think about
it A hundred percent, and whenit comes, I don't know about you
, man, but when it comes todementia and the whole cognitive
decline thing, like it justterrifies me, it terrifies me
and it's just you know like itis.
(10:41):
It is a definite point of focusfor me in my life to to do
things that just improve my odds.
Like you can't.
You can't bulletproof yourselfagainst it, right?
There's all sorts of factors,like we're talking about.
Genetics is a factor, lifestyleis a factor, environment is a
factor, lifestyle is a factor,environment is a factor.
(11:03):
But doing things like you werementioning working out, eating a
balanced diet, staying healthybut beyond working out your body
, work out your mind, yep Right,continue learning, putting
yourself in uncomfortablesituations.
Let me add a caveat to that.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Let me add a caveat to that.
Sorry to cut you off, but doinguncomfortable things, but doing
it intentionally, yes, notsuffering involuntarily, right,
because you've been hijacked,right, it matters, dude.
Like if you need to learn a newtask and this links directly
(11:39):
into dimension and everything.
Like, how many times do youlean into that and you get
overwhelmed, right, your bodythrows up brain fog and you get
clouded and you get frustratedand you're like I can't do this
right now, right, and you haveto step away from it.
Like if you just go into thatprocess with a totally different
lens, by looking at like okay,that uncomfortability, that is
(11:59):
the growth, that's what'shappening.
Your brain is rewiring itselfin new and interesting ways that
are trying to get you past that.
And if you just look at thatlike this is part of the process
, like I'm in it, this isfantastic, just claiming it like
that in your mind, it's got allthese different chemicals in
your body.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
It's called cognitive load.
Yeah Right, and it's importantand actually let's let's talk a
little bit about that, because Ijust read a study recently
where they were tracking a bunchof college students and they
broke them up into groups andyou know, they gave them a task
and some of the kids had to goabout it the old school way,
right, go to the bookstore, geta book, or you know, read the
(12:37):
book and do a paper and do apaper.
Some kids got to use Google,some kids got to use an LLM chat
or whatever, and they wereliterally measuring how much
their brains were working.
And, no surprise, the more westart using chat to offload our
(12:57):
tasks the less.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Our brains are working y'all the more the light
goes out internally.
Yeah, you're like outsourcingthe intelligence.
That's dumbing yourself down.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yes, yeah, so it is super important for us to be
very intentional about workingout our minds, right.
And this isn't when we'reretired and we're 65 and
dementia is already like notknocking at the door but you
know, into your living room,right.
But when we're young, whenwe're in our 30s, 40s, 50s,
(13:29):
right.
Like, let's set ourselves upnow To enjoy our 60s, 70s and
80s Right.
Not be a burden to ourselvesand to our loved ones.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Speaking of the, the, the scary aspect of this like
you, just when you and this hasall happened to us, right you're
like you go to the, you go tothe fridge to get something and
you open up the refrigerator andyou forgot what you were there
for.
Like that just happens.
Those are just like.
I consider them brain farts, ifyou will.
But like the other day I wasdriving home and I forgot where
(14:03):
I was for a minute.
Brother, again, I don't know ifit was a one-off, I was on a
road that I've driven downthousands of times and I got
panicked for a minute.
I'm like, holy shit, I thoughtabout.
This must be what it's likewhen you get older and you start
getting dementia.
When you get older and youstart getting dementia, and if
that becomes something thathappens frequently, the only
(14:24):
solace I can imagine in that isthat at some point you just you
stop trying to find it, you stopsearching and you're just.
You're just in the, you're justhere, you're just like whatever
, you know what I'm saying, likeyou're not trying to chase it
all the time, but it's, it isfrightening then it really is.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Absolutely, and you know it's really easy to chalk a
lot of those instances up to.
Well, shoot, I just have like amillion balls in the air right,
like obviously your brain can'tmultitask all the time.
I think it's really importantto not bury our head in the sand
you know for what thoseinstances might be telling us
(15:01):
right.
You know for what thoseinstances might be telling us
right and to be very vigilantfor things not only with
ourselves but with our lovedones, and, furthermore, to take
those preventive action stepsright as frequently and early as
possible, so that, again, wecan't bulletproof ourselves but
(15:21):
we can improve our odds, whichis what we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, it never ceases to amaze me how fickle the mind
can be when it comes to thistype of stuff.
Like, sometimes forgettingthings is a blessing in disguise
.
I remember a year ago, twoyears ago, I was sitting down
and I was preoccupied I thinkI've shared this story on the
podcast before, at least withyou.
I was worried about somethingand it was like impending doom
(15:49):
overwhelming me and I said, ohmy God, I got to do this and I
was just frozen with like fearof this thing that I had to do
and for a moment I forgot whatit was that I was worried about.
It just totally escaped me.
And then I got like panickedfor a minute, like, oh my God, I
forgot the thing and I realizedhow absurd it was.
I was obsessing over a sillythought that came up with a
(16:12):
thing that hadn't even happenedyet that it maybe had to do.
Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn'tdo it.
Then I forgot it.
Then I got up and I realizedit's like meditation is so huge
when it comes to this stuff.
Right, coming back to present,learning how to.
When emotions do flare up andyou get overwhelmed by things,
(16:32):
learning how to not ignore thembut kind of acknowledge them and
then just get yourself back topresent, and I think that's
really, really powerful practice.
Obviously, exercise, diet, allthis stuff we're talking about
learning new things, but thenalso being still being present,
unplugging yourself right,getting away from these damn
devices that we're on all thetime and just unplugging all
that.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
There's just so much noise around us, right, that
it's sometimes hard to processit and continually process it,
right, just all the time.
That's that's a reallyinteresting point that you're
making here and I you know thankyou for giving me another
radical to go down, but the thepotential impact of meditation
(17:14):
on cognitive decline, and what?
Because it's I do.
I do think it is a verypowerful and beneficial habit to
just try and quiet the mind andhave a moment of peace, right,
yeah, you know, but how doesthat compare and stack with
(17:37):
cognitive decline?
Would it help us?
Would it exacerbate it?
Would it help prevent it?
Would it slow it down?
I wonder how much research hasbeen done on that, but I will
look into it and I'll bring anupdate on the next show.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I'm sure there's been plenty of research done on this
.
Like all these tools, they allwork incredibly well together,
right?
It's not like just don't do onething, do a lot of different
things, right, just and createhabits and create routines.
Actually, I don't like the wordroutine somebody.
Somebody referred to it, uh,the other day, as as rhythms
instead of routines.
(18:12):
I think routines has thetendency to feel like I don't
know just who, just who wantsroutine, but I want to get in a
rhythm.
Who doesn't want to be in arhythm?
Who doesn't want to be onrhythm?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
And that, folks, is the power of marketing and
copyright.
So let's talk about a few ofthe, of the, the, the key points
that we can.
You know that, things that wecan do, obviously, you know the.
The central theme of today'spodcast is how your gum health
will relate to, you know, thewhole cognitive decline process.
It has to do with inflammation,it has to do with our diet, it
(18:45):
has to do with the bacteria inour gums.
So if there's one key takeawayfrom today's episode, I want it
to be that if you see Somebleeding in the sink, don't
disregard it.
Right, if you're not reallyconcerned about the health of
your gums, think about thehealth of your brain.
Right, because those two thingsare are intimately linked.
(19:09):
Right, and when we interveneearly in the process of gum
inflammation or gum disease, itis very predictable, very easy
to cure and we can completelyreverse that trend and get you
healthy and in maintenance mode.
And, like I always say, highfive on the way out every six
(19:32):
months when you come in for yourcleaning.
The problem happens as thatearly gum disease or gingivitis
as it's called progresses andbecomes periodontal disease.
Now this becomes a chronicinfection that is not curable.
Right, it's manageable, but youare dealing with this
(19:54):
infectious burden in your gumsfor the rest of your life, right
?
So early detection, earlytreatment when it comes to the
health of your gums is superimportant.
I really can't overstate that.
(20:15):
So things like bleeding gums,bad breath that you can't quite
pinpoint doesn't go away.
Any redness or swelling go getchecked out, right, visit your
dentist and see what's going on.
Get on top of it early.
As far as caregivers go, this isthe point that I want to make
before we wrap up the show.
It becomes very, very difficultfor caregivers when patients
start to go down that slope ofcognitive decline, because all
(20:38):
of those routines or rhythmsstart to become a lot more
difficult, right, like as as ourmemory loss starts to progress.
We some we have, you know, likephysical limitations and
dexterity issues.
So what happens is like earlystages, okay, like the gums are
(21:00):
suffering a little bit.
Now the patient isn't able tokeep their mouths clean as well.
So the gum inflammation and gumdisease process progresses.
Now it becomes worse, it startsaffecting the cognitive decline
, right, and it kind of worksboth ways.
So it just kind of snowballs,right, yeah, and it's super
important to equip these, thesefolks with the tools that they
(21:24):
need To help, right, whetherthat be an electric toothbrush,
whether that be a toothbrushwith a bigger handle that
they're better able tomanipulate and, you know, get
their mouths clean, are able tomanipulate and, you know, get
their mouths clean, getting themwater irrigation like a water
(21:47):
pick.
They sell toothbrushes now thatare ultrasonic with, you know,
a water pick built in.
Those can be very effectivehelping them floss using you
know they're called proxybrushes.
It's almost like, almost lookslike, a little bottle brush that
you use to clean in betweenyour teeth.
Those can be very effective andhelping these folks keep their
mouths as healthy as possible,because we know that that helps
(22:11):
keep their brains as healthy aspossible.
Right, and the sooner we startthat process, obviously, the
better outcomes we have.
Right, and the sooner we startthat process obviously, the
better outcomes we have.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
And it's never too late to start, right, no matter
where you are in your journey.
Maybe you're out there andmaybe you haven't been to the
dentist in years now.
Right, you've got to startsomewhere, so start there.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, build build on that and that's all we could do.
That is so definitely want tomention today the uh, the 5k
that we have coming up.
That will be january 10th, um,so spots are still available.
The uh, the.
The link to sign up will be inthe show notes.
You can visit it, run yourmouthorg.
All the information for therace is there.
(22:56):
Uh, this year's race will bebenefiting the Davie Women's
Club, which we're very excitedabout, and it is brought to you
by the Chamber of Commerce and7A Dental.
So we hope to see everyone outthere.
Again, it's January 10th.
We can run, walk or stroll wealso have virtual race if you
(23:17):
want to do it from your couch orstroll we also have a virtual
race if you want to do it fromyour couch.
But we do hope that everyonejoins us.
We hope to have a great race.
There's going to be music,there's going to be IV tents,
there's going to be food trucksand all sorts of swag really
cool t-shirts and medals andbags and things like that.
(23:37):
So we hope to see everyone outthere and thank you, mr Wolf,
for another great show.
Again, folks, if you seesomething in the sink, go get
checked out.
It's never too late and we hopeto see everyone at the next
show.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, and I just want to leave with this, you said
you could at the race you couldrun.
You could run, walk or stroll.
Brother, we are going to flywe're gonna fly oh yeah, you are
coming incoming PR all right,everyone take care have a great
day.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Keep smiling, folks.
Thanks for tuning in to thisepisode of the Semide Dental
podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
Don't forget to subscribe,leave a review and follow us on
social media for the latestepisodes.
You can find us at SemideDental.
If you have any questions, feelfree to reach out.
We're always happy to help.
Until then, keep smiling andstay curious.
Welcome to the Semide Dental Podcast.
We're here to provide youexpert insights on how dentistry
can improve your quality oflife and extend your health span
.
I'm Alex Semide and I'm apracticing dentist, and I'll be
your host, along with JeremyWolf.
Enjoy the show.
Welcome back to Tribe to a newepisode of the Semide Dental
(00:22):
Podcast.
Mr Wolf, how are you doingtoday?
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Living la vida loca.
Last time I was living thedream, now I'm living la vida
loca, living la vida loca.
Always doing well, my friendAlways.
Speaker 1 (00:34):
Ricky Martin in the 90s.
Nothing better than that, yeah.
So today we have a veryimportant podcast, a topic that
really hits very near and dearto my heart, and that is
(00:55):
dementia and generally cognitivedecline.
And specifically today we wantto talk a little bit about how
your mouth actually plays apretty significant role in that
process.
Um, more and more researchkeeps coming out as to the, the
relationship between the healthof our gums and the health of
(01:17):
our brain, and we're going totalk a little bit about, you
know, how that works, what wecan do about it and some signs
for caregivers and ourselves tolook out for to.
You know, if not altogetheravoid cognitive decline, at
least minimize it to improve ourquality of life really.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, speaking of caregivers, I just did earlier
this week, a podcast withComfort Keepers they do in-home
care and we talked about thisvery issue.
We talked about dementia andAlzheimer's and how that relates
to the caregiver side of things.
And this also hits hard for meas well, because I've had family
members.
My grandmother suffered fromAlzheimer's and I watched her go
(02:05):
through a horrible cognitivedecline and, if I'm being honest
, I never even thought about theconnection to your oral health
and your mental clarity, and Iknow that's a big thing for you.
So, definitely interested toget into this, why don't you
start off by kind ofdistinguishing between dementia
and alzheimer, and then we'll gofrom there?
Speaker 1 (02:25):
Sure, yeah.
So dementia is kind of like anumbrella term for cognitive
decline, right, and cognitivedecline, we've all seen it,
right, a little bit of memoryloss, so maybe you have a loved
one who kind of repeats the samestory a few times or forgets
(02:47):
where they put their keys, oryou know that sort of thing and
we, we generally just kind ofchalk it up oh, they're a little
bit older, maybe they just gota lot going on, right, and but
that is generally what it means.
And obviously that progressesand progresses to the point
where, you know, it becomes very, very difficult for the patient
and the people around them.
(03:08):
And then Alzheimer's is aspecific diagnosis, right, it's
the most common type of dementia, so it's the one that we hear
about the most.
It affects 6 million Americans,right, which is a really
sobering number, that's crazy.
(03:28):
It really is, and the kind ofthe key hallmarks of Alzheimer's
that we hear a lot about arethese plaques in the brain,
these protein tangles andultimately like, like brain cell
death and lack of function.
(03:49):
Right, so that's what leads tothe memory loss and, ultimately,
loss of independence.
Speaker 2 (04:00):
So obviously, age and genetics play a huge component
in this, as well as yourlifestyle and how you take care
of yourself.
But what about oral health?
Like inflammation and oralhealth, how is this playing into
the propensity for the body to,or the mind to, get afflicted
(04:21):
by these terrible ailments?
Speaker 1 (04:23):
to get afflicted by these terrible ailments.
Yeah, so for a very, very longtime we kind of had an idea of
how the whole cognitive declinething worked, but we still don't
have a full grasp on it.
We're kind of elucidating theprocess and figuring things out,
and what we're learning is thatinflammation plays a huge role
(04:45):
in the whole process and withthe mouth, specifically the, the
bacteria that we have in themouth.
You know, the mouth is a very,very unusual location of the
body, right, like it's inside us, but it communicates a lot with
the outside world and and andwhat happens in the mouth
(05:07):
doesn't?
It's like the opposite of vegas, right?
What happens in the mouth doesnot stay there.
Um, so you have I've said thison the show before the bacterial
concentration in your mouth isequal to the bacterial
concentration in your colon.
So that sink in for a secondright means you have a
(05:30):
tremendous amount of germs andbacteria in your mouth.
Now, it is because of ourmodern diets super important to
be on top of that of themaintenance that the mouth
requires, right, because ourmodern diets are basically
designed to help bacteriaproliferate.
(05:51):
Yeah, so we need to be very,very diligent with our brushing,
our flossing or water, picking,our home care to minimize the
amount of bacteria that we havein the mouth.
Why?
Very easy, because if you havea amount of bacteria that we
have in the mouth, why?
Very easy, because if you havea lot of bacteria in the mouth,
that leads to inflammation.
(06:12):
Right, a lot of bacteria isliterally a low-grade, chronic
infection of an area, right, sothat leads to inflammation.
That's where we start seeinggums get a little puffy, a
little red, right, maybe youbrush or floss and you see a
little bit of pink in the sinkright, a little bit of bleeding,
and you don't really make a bigdeal out of it.
(06:33):
But what's happening when yousee a little bit of blood?
Right, that means that somelittle blood vessel somewhere
burst open and is letting bloodout.
Now, if blood can get out, thatbacteria sludge that is
happening there can get intoyour bloodstream and now it has
(06:56):
free access to the highwaythroughout your body.
Right, so we're finding Some ofthese, specifically a bacteria
called P gingivalis.
Gingivalis means gingiva, whichliterally means gum tissue.
We're finding that bacteria inAlzheimer's patients brains,
(07:18):
right, so that just goes to showthat it is going in through the
gums because the gums aren'thealthy.
We have a little bit ofbleeding, bacteria gets in, it
travels around, it literallygoes to every single nook and
cranny in your body and we keeplearning more and more about how
that gum inflammation hasprofound impacts in every corner
(07:41):
of the body, including thebrain.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
Fascinating stuff, speaking of the science, of it
right, and clearly there's a lotof studies and work being done
in this field.
What are some of the new thingsthat are coming out now?
Because I got to imagine that,as AI just keeps getting more
powerful and technology keepsincreasing, we're going to have
more solutions and more uh, moreways to deal with this stuff in
(08:09):
the future.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, I mean what?
What is AI going to to do inthe next two, five, 10, 20 years
?
I mean, who knows right?
But the amount of things thatwe see in the very near future
are really powerful screeningtools that are AI driven, spit
(08:45):
in a little cup and we'll beable to run all sorts of tests
on that saliva and see thingsthat could be markers of early
dementia, of early cognitivedecline.
And, you know, as the scienceprogresses, we'll be able to
figure out more and better waysof helping our brain withstand
that assault right and stayhealthier and functional longer.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
Yeah, and it makes so much sense on its face, right
Like eat healthy, take care ofyourself, exercise, right, do
all the things that are going tooptimize the machine which is
our body.
Yet we've talked about this somany times with everything we do
, right Life happens.
Right Things come up and itbecomes difficult to maintain
(09:31):
this stuff.
One of the things I foundinteresting regarding diet as I
get older, I'm just more awareof this stuff and I was thinking
to myself like how important itis what we're putting in our
body to fuel.
And I went on chat and I said,hey, is there an app out there
and I know I'm sure there iswhere you can kind of like do
all lab tests and it willanalyze everything and then give
(09:52):
you like a specific, detailedbreakdown of a diet that will,
like it's customized for notjust your age, your weight and
all that kind of stuff, butactually your specific
biomarkers.
And that stuff exists, existsand there's companies out there
doing that now and I can see afuture where you know, obviously
we don't want to get too toostuck to that.
We still want to live our livesand we still want to have fun
and do things, but if you wantto live a long, productive life
(10:16):
and a prosperous life and avoidthese types of ailments, you
have to start thinking aboutthis stuff.
Speaker 1 (10:21):
It's so important to have these conversations, just
to raise awareness, just to getpeople starting to think about
it A hundred percent, and whenit comes, I don't know about you
, man, but when it comes todementia and the whole cognitive
decline thing, like it justterrifies me, it terrifies me
and it's just you know like itis.
(10:41):
It is a definite point of focusfor me in my life to to do
things that just improve my odds.
Like you can't.
You can't bulletproof yourselfagainst it, right?
There's all sorts of factors,like we're talking about.
Genetics is a factor, lifestyleis a factor, environment is a
factor, lifestyle is a factor,environment is a factor.
(11:03):
But doing things like you werementioning working out, eating a
balanced diet, staying healthybut beyond working out your body
, work out your mind, yep Right,continue learning, putting
yourself in uncomfortablesituations.
Let me add a caveat to that.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
Let me add a caveat to that.
Sorry to cut you off, but doinguncomfortable things, but doing
it intentionally, yes, notsuffering involuntarily, right,
because you've been hijacked,right, it matters, dude.
Like if you need to learn a newtask and this links directly
(11:39):
into dimension and everything.
Like, how many times do youlean into that and you get
overwhelmed, right, your bodythrows up brain fog and you get
clouded and you get frustratedand you're like I can't do this
right now, right, and you haveto step away from it.
Like if you just go into thatprocess with a totally different
lens, by looking at like okay,that uncomfortability, that is
(11:59):
the growth, that's what'shappening.
Your brain is rewiring itselfin new and interesting ways that
are trying to get you past that.
And if you just look at thatlike this is part of the process
, like I'm in it, this isfantastic, just claiming it like
that in your mind, it's got allthese different chemicals in
your body.
Speaker 1 (12:15):
It's called cognitive load.
Yeah Right, and it's importantand actually let's let's talk a
little bit about that, because Ijust read a study recently
where they were tracking a bunchof college students and they
broke them up into groups andyou know, they gave them a task
and some of the kids had to goabout it the old school way,
right, go to the bookstore, geta book, or you know, read the
(12:37):
book and do a paper and do apaper.
Some kids got to use Google,some kids got to use an LLM chat
or whatever, and they wereliterally measuring how much
their brains were working.
And, no surprise, the more westart using chat to offload our
(12:57):
tasks the less.
Speaker 2 (12:59):
Our brains are working y'all the more the light
goes out internally.
Yeah, you're like outsourcingthe intelligence.
That's dumbing yourself down.
Speaker 1 (13:07):
Yes, yeah, so it is super important for us to be
very intentional about workingout our minds, right.
And this isn't when we'reretired and we're 65 and
dementia is already like notknocking at the door but you
know, into your living room,right.
But when we're young, whenwe're in our 30s, 40s, 50s,
(13:29):
right.
Like, let's set ourselves upnow To enjoy our 60s, 70s and
80s Right.
Not be a burden to ourselvesand to our loved ones.
Speaker 2 (13:42):
Speaking of the, the, the scary aspect of this like
you, just when you and this hasall happened to us, right you're
like you go to the, you go tothe fridge to get something and
you open up the refrigerator andyou forgot what you were there
for.
Like that just happens.
Those are just like.
I consider them brain farts, ifyou will.
But like the other day I wasdriving home and I forgot where
(14:03):
I was for a minute.
Brother, again, I don't know ifit was a one-off, I was on a
road that I've driven downthousands of times and I got
panicked for a minute.
I'm like, holy shit, I thoughtabout.
This must be what it's likewhen you get older and you start
getting dementia.
When you get older and youstart getting dementia, and if
that becomes something thathappens frequently, the only
(14:24):
solace I can imagine in that isthat at some point you just you
stop trying to find it, you stopsearching and you're just.
You're just in the, you're justhere, you're just like whatever
, you know what I'm saying, likeyou're not trying to chase it
all the time, but it's, it isfrightening then it really is.
Speaker 1 (14:40):
Absolutely, and you know it's really easy to chalk a
lot of those instances up to.
Well, shoot, I just have like amillion balls in the air right,
like obviously your brain can'tmultitask all the time.
I think it's really importantto not bury our head in the sand
you know for what thoseinstances might be telling us
(15:01):
right.
You know for what thoseinstances might be telling us
right and to be very vigilantfor things not only with
ourselves but with our lovedones, and, furthermore, to take
those preventive action stepsright as frequently and early as
possible, so that, again, wecan't bulletproof ourselves but
(15:21):
we can improve our odds, whichis what we're trying to do.
Speaker 2 (15:27):
Yeah, it never ceases to amaze me how fickle the mind
can be when it comes to thistype of stuff.
Like, sometimes forgettingthings is a blessing in disguise
.
I remember a year ago, twoyears ago, I was sitting down
and I was preoccupied I thinkI've shared this story on the
podcast before, at least withyou.
I was worried about somethingand it was like impending doom
(15:49):
overwhelming me and I said, ohmy God, I got to do this and I
was just frozen with like fearof this thing that I had to do
and for a moment I forgot whatit was that I was worried about.
It just totally escaped me.
And then I got like panickedfor a minute, like, oh my God, I
forgot the thing and I realizedhow absurd it was.
I was obsessing over a sillythought that came up with a
(16:12):
thing that hadn't even happenedyet that it maybe had to do.
Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn'tdo it.
Then I forgot it.
Then I got up and I realizedit's like meditation is so huge
when it comes to this stuff.
Right, coming back to present,learning how to.
When emotions do flare up andyou get overwhelmed by things,
(16:32):
learning how to not ignore thembut kind of acknowledge them and
then just get yourself back topresent, and I think that's
really, really powerful practice.
Obviously, exercise, diet, allthis stuff we're talking about
learning new things, but thenalso being still being present,
unplugging yourself right,getting away from these damn
devices that we're on all thetime and just unplugging all
that.
Speaker 1 (16:52):
There's just so much noise around us, right, that
it's sometimes hard to processit and continually process it,
right, just all the time.
That's that's a reallyinteresting point that you're
making here and I you know thankyou for giving me another
radical to go down, but the thepotential impact of meditation
(17:14):
on cognitive decline, and what?
Because it's I do.
I do think it is a verypowerful and beneficial habit to
just try and quiet the mind andhave a moment of peace, right,
yeah, you know, but how doesthat compare and stack with
(17:37):
cognitive decline?
Would it help us?
Would it exacerbate it?
Would it help prevent it?
Would it slow it down?
I wonder how much research hasbeen done on that, but I will
look into it and I'll bring anupdate on the next show.
Speaker 2 (17:52):
I'm sure there's been plenty of research done on this
.
Like all these tools, they allwork incredibly well together,
right?
It's not like just don't do onething, do a lot of different
things, right, just and createhabits and create routines.
Actually, I don't like the wordroutine somebody.
Somebody referred to it, uh,the other day, as as rhythms
instead of routines.
(18:12):
I think routines has thetendency to feel like I don't
know just who, just who wantsroutine, but I want to get in a
rhythm.
Who doesn't want to be in arhythm?
Who doesn't want to be onrhythm?
Speaker 1 (18:23):
And that, folks, is the power of marketing and
copyright.
So let's talk about a few ofthe, of the, the, the key points
that we can.
You know that, things that wecan do, obviously, you know the.
The central theme of today'spodcast is how your gum health
will relate to, you know, thewhole cognitive decline process.
It has to do with inflammation,it has to do with our diet, it
(18:45):
has to do with the bacteria inour gums.
So if there's one key takeawayfrom today's episode, I want it
to be that if you see Somebleeding in the sink, don't
disregard it.
Right, if you're not reallyconcerned about the health of
your gums, think about thehealth of your brain.
Right, because those two thingsare are intimately linked.
(19:09):
Right, and when we interveneearly in the process of gum
inflammation or gum disease, itis very predictable, very easy
to cure and we can completelyreverse that trend and get you
healthy and in maintenance mode.
And, like I always say, highfive on the way out every six
(19:32):
months when you come in for yourcleaning.
The problem happens as thatearly gum disease or gingivitis
as it's called progresses andbecomes periodontal disease.
Now this becomes a chronicinfection that is not curable.
Right, it's manageable, but youare dealing with this
(19:54):
infectious burden in your gumsfor the rest of your life, right
?
So early detection, earlytreatment when it comes to the
health of your gums is superimportant.
I really can't overstate that.
(20:15):
So things like bleeding gums,bad breath that you can't quite
pinpoint doesn't go away.
Any redness or swelling go getchecked out, right, visit your
dentist and see what's going on.
Get on top of it early.
As far as caregivers go, this isthe point that I want to make
before we wrap up the show.
It becomes very, very difficultfor caregivers when patients
start to go down that slope ofcognitive decline, because all
(20:38):
of those routines or rhythmsstart to become a lot more
difficult, right, like as as ourmemory loss starts to progress.
We some we have, you know, likephysical limitations and
dexterity issues.
So what happens is like earlystages, okay, like the gums are
(21:00):
suffering a little bit.
Now the patient isn't able tokeep their mouths clean as well.
So the gum inflammation and gumdisease process progresses.
Now it becomes worse, it startsaffecting the cognitive decline
, right, and it kind of worksboth ways.
So it just kind of snowballs,right, yeah, and it's super
important to equip these, thesefolks with the tools that they
(21:24):
need To help, right, whetherthat be an electric toothbrush,
whether that be a toothbrushwith a bigger handle that
they're better able tomanipulate and, you know, get
their mouths clean, are able tomanipulate and, you know, get
their mouths clean, getting themwater irrigation like a water
(21:47):
pick.
They sell toothbrushes now thatare ultrasonic with, you know,
a water pick built in.
Those can be very effectivehelping them floss using you
know they're called proxybrushes.
It's almost like, almost lookslike, a little bottle brush that
you use to clean in betweenyour teeth.
Those can be very effective andhelping these folks keep their
mouths as healthy as possible,because we know that that helps
(22:11):
keep their brains as healthy aspossible.
Right, and the sooner we startthat process, obviously, the
better outcomes we have.
Right, and the sooner we startthat process obviously, the
better outcomes we have.
Speaker 2 (22:19):
And it's never too late to start, right, no matter
where you are in your journey.
Maybe you're out there andmaybe you haven't been to the
dentist in years now.
Right, you've got to startsomewhere, so start there.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
Yeah, build build on that and that's all we could do.
That is so definitely want tomention today the uh, the 5k
that we have coming up.
That will be january 10th, um,so spots are still available.
The uh, the.
The link to sign up will be inthe show notes.
You can visit it, run yourmouthorg.
All the information for therace is there.
(22:56):
Uh, this year's race will bebenefiting the Davie Women's
Club, which we're very excitedabout, and it is brought to you
by the Chamber of Commerce and7A Dental.
So we hope to see everyone outthere.
Again, it's January 10th.
We can run, walk or stroll wealso have virtual race if you
(23:17):
want to do it from your couch orstroll we also have a virtual
race if you want to do it fromyour couch.
But we do hope that everyonejoins us.
We hope to have a great race.
There's going to be music,there's going to be IV tents,
there's going to be food trucksand all sorts of swag really
cool t-shirts and medals andbags and things like that.
(23:37):
So we hope to see everyone outthere and thank you, mr Wolf,
for another great show.
Again, folks, if you seesomething in the sink, go get
checked out.
It's never too late and we hopeto see everyone at the next
show.
Speaker 2 (23:54):
Yeah, and I just want to leave with this, you said
you could at the race you couldrun.
You could run, walk or stroll.
Brother, we are going to flywe're gonna fly oh yeah, you are
coming incoming PR all right,everyone take care have a great
day.
Speaker 1 (24:09):
Keep smiling, folks.
Thanks for tuning in to thisepisode of the Semide Dental
podcast.
We hope you enjoyed the show.
Don't forget to subscribe,leave a review and follow us on
social media for the latestepisodes.
You can find us at SemideDental.
If you have any questions, feelfree to reach out.
We're always happy to help.
Until then, keep smiling andstay curious.
Popular Podcasts
Las Culturistas with Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang
Ding dong! Join your culture consultants, Matt Rogers and Bowen Yang, on an unforgettable journey into the beating heart of CULTURE. Alongside sizzling special guests, they GET INTO the hottest pop-culture moments of the day and the formative cultural experiences that turned them into Culturistas. Produced by the Big Money Players Network and iHeartRadio.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
The Brothers Ortiz
The Brothers Ortiz is the story of two brothers–both successful, but in very different ways. Gabe Ortiz becomes a third-highest ranking officer in all of Texas while his younger brother Larry climbs the ranks in Puro Tango Blast, a notorious Texas Prison gang. Gabe doesn’t know all the details of his brother’s nefarious dealings, and he’s made a point not to ask, to protect their relationship. But when Larry is murdered during a home invasion in a rented beach house, Gabe has no choice but to look into what happened that night. To solve Larry’s murder, Gabe, and the whole Ortiz family, must ask each other tough questions.