SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Aging Neurosci.
Sec. Alzheimer's Disease and Related Dementias
Volume 17 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2025.1588008
This article is part of the Research TopicFrom the mouth to the brain: the relationship between periodontitis/peri-implantitis and neuroinflammationView all 4 articles
Association between periodontal disease and Alzheimer's disease: a scoping review
Provisionally accepted
- Sichuan Cancer Hospital, Chengdu, Sichuan Province, China
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Background: Alzheimer's disease (AD) is the most common type of dementia, with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) as its early reversible stage. Periodontal disease (PD) is a chronic inflammatory condition associated with systemic diseases. Recent studies suggest a potential link between PD and AD/MCI. This scoping review evaluates the existing evidence on the association between PD and AD and explores possible mechanisms. Methods: A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane databases ( September 2025), covering studies from 2004 to 2025. Human clinical studies, animal models, and in vitro experiments were included, while reviews were excluded. Two independent researchers performed study selection, data extraction, and quality assessment. Results: A total of 52 studies were included after screening1369 records. Among them, 25 clinical studies examined the PD-AD association, including case-control, cohort, and cross-sectional studies. Additionally, 24 studies investigated underlying mechanisms, and 3 animal studies assessed PD-related interventions for AD. Evidence suggests PD increases the risk of AD and accelerates cognitive decline. Potential mechanisms include amyloid-β (Aβ) and tau protein aggregation, neuroinflammation triggered by Porphyromonas gingivalis (Pg) infection, and gut-brain axis dysregulation. Periodontal treatment and probiotics may have protective effects against AD-related pathology. Conclusions: PD may be a modifiable risk factor for AD, and periodontal interventions could contribute to AD prevention and management. Further clinical studies are needed to confirm the therapeutic potential of targeting oral microbiota in AD.
Keywords: Periodontal disease, Alzheimer's disease, Scoping review, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Periodontitis
Received: 05 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 Sep 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Xin Huang and Chang. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mengdie Chang, 3179327601@qq.com
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