Occlusion dysfunction and Alzheimer's disease: Mendelian randomization study

Qing Wang; Wenyu Zhen; Rui Hu; Zifei Wang; Yuqiang Sun; Wansu Sun; Chunxia Huang; Jianguang Xu; Hengguo Zhang

doi:10.3389/fnagi.2024.1423322

Occlusion dysfunction and Alzheimer's disease: Mendelian randomization study

Front Aging Neurosci. 2024 Jul 5:16:1423322. doi: 10.3389/fnagi.2024.1423322. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Qing Wang^#¹, Wenyu Zhen^#¹, Rui Hu^#², Zifei Wang¹, Yuqiang Sun¹, Wansu Sun³, Chunxia Huang², Jianguang Xu¹, Hengguo Zhang¹

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Oral Diseases Research of Anhui Province, College and Hospital of Stomatology, Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
² Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.
³ Department of Stomatology, Anhui Public Health Clinical Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Aim: Occlusion dysfunction (OD) is increasingly linked to Alzheimer's disease (AD). This study aimed to elucidate the causal relationship between OD and AD using Mendelian randomization (MR) analysis.

Materials and methods: Genome-wide association study (GWAS) meta-analysis data obtained from FinnGen, IEU Open GWAS, and UK Biobank (UKBB) was represented as instrumental variables. We validated the causal relationship between periodontal disease (PD), loose teeth (PD & occlusion dysfunction), dentures restoration (occlusion recovery), and AD.

Results: According to the MR analysis, PD and AD have no direct causal relationship (P = 0.395, IVW). However, loose teeth significantly increased the risk of AD progression (P = 0.017, IVW, OR = 187.3567, 95%CI = 2.54E+00-1.38E+04). These findings were further supported by the negative causal relationship between dentures restoration and AD (P = 0.015, IVW, OR = 0.0234, 95%CI = 1.13E-03-0.485).

Conclusion: The occlusion dysfunction can ultimately induce Alzheimer's disease. Occlusion function was a potentially protective factor for maintaining neurological health.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Mendelian randomization; epidemiology; occlusion dysfunction; periodontal disease.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of the article. This work was supported by the Basic and Clinical Cooperative Research Promotion Program of Anhui Medical University (2021xkjT038), the 2022 Disciplinary Construction Project in the School of Dentistry, Anhui Medical University (2022xkfyhz09).