国外媒体:记忆力衰退和牙齿有关吗？（在线收听）

Many people lose teeth as they get older, and many people lose some memory capacity as they get older. Could these two things be related? To find out, researchers are exploring the possible links between oral health and memory loss.

人们越老牙齿越少，同时人的年纪越大记忆力也会越来越差。这两者之间有什么联系吗？为了找出两者间的奥秘，研究者们开始在口腔健康和记忆力衰退方面寻找联系。

Richard Crout researches gum disease at the University of West Virginia School of Dentistry. He says in recent years, oral health researchers have found that tooth and gum disease have links to many other health problems - from heart disease to premature birth and pregnancy complications. Now they think there might be links to memory loss.

研究表明，口腔疾病和牙龈疾病会导致其他的健康问题，比如从心脏病到早产及怀孕的并发症。现在研究者们认为，这些可能也和记忆力衰退有关。

Crout says many dentists see older patients with memory loss who come into their offices with teeth that are a mess. Often that's because these patients have forgotten to do the basics of self care.

克劳特说牙科医生经常会给一些年纪大的人看病，这些老人的牙齿状况也都很糟糕。通常是因为这些病人已经忘记了打理自己的一些基本事情。

"Now we know that if somebody has dementia or they are demented or they have Alzheimer's, that they are going [to] potentially forget to brush or floss their teeth," he says. "That would not be new, but what surprised us was the linkage between mild to moderate memory loss and oral disease."

现在我们已经意识到如果人们患有痴呆或者精神错乱或者老年痴呆症，那么他们就会容易忘记刷牙，剔牙。这并不是什么新鲜事，但是让我们吃惊的是轻度到中度记忆力衰退和口腔疾病之间的联系。

Crout and his students examined data from the NHANES [National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey], a national survey of Americans, which asked them about their health. Subjects in the study also had dental exams. And the data showed that people who reported tooth and gum disease had lower scores on tests that measured memory and cognition.

克劳特和他的学生们对NHANES的数据进行了分析，这是一项美国国民调查。问美国人一些和他们的健康相关的问题。数据表明，那些患有牙齿和牙龈疾病的人在记忆力和认知力方面的测试分数也很低。

One hypothesis that would link oral disease and memory loss relies on new evidence about how tissue inflammation affects the brain.

一项关于组织炎症如何影响大脑的新证据进一步证实了这一假说，将口腔疾病和记忆衰退联系起来。

"Our hypothesis is that there are inflammatory byproducts that come from the infection that exists in our mouths, particularly with the more advanced form of gum disease," Crout says. "And these byproducts can then travel to areas of the brain that have been noted to be an area of concern for those patients with memory loss."

“我们的假设是有一些炎症的产物由于感染而存在于我们的口腔 之中，尤其随着越来越多的牙龈疾病形式产生”，克劳特说，“ 这些产物能散播到大脑中的相关区域，使病人记忆力衰退。”