Researchers at Boston University Medical Center report an association between cognitive impairment and sleep disordered breathing in older adults.
“Although this does not necessarily mean that sleep apnea causes cognitive impairment in the elderly, it does highlight the association,” explained corresponding author Sanford Auerbach, MD, associate professor of neurology and psychiatry at BUSM and director of the Sleep Disorders Center at Boston Medical Center.
According to Auerbach the causal link between SDB /obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and cognitive impairment in the elderly is not entirely clear. “Nevertheless, it does raise the issue that clinicians evaluating OSA in the elderly should screen for cognitive impairments. Furthermore, clinicians evaluating cognitive impairment in the elderly should also screen their patients for sleep disturbance and OSA.”
Read more at www.eurekalert.org
I wish the following question could be answered.
It is well known that a person with an overbite has a mandible sitting too far up and back in the Glenoid fossa. This causes the tongue to be too far back, resulting in a narrow posterior airway, and increasing the risk of a disrupted and non-restorative sleep.
The up and back position of the condyle pinches the nerves and other tissues between the condyle and the ear. This increases muscle activity, and more importantly, nerve activity. This increased nerve activity increases brain activity above normal 24/7 using up brain chemistry faster than normal.
QUESTION:
Is it possible that increased brain activity 24/7 using up brain chemistry,
along with disrupted sleep unable to restore the brain chemistry for many years,
can lead to (or increase the risk of)
the various late age brain disorders such as
Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s dementia, etc.?
Research is very much needed in this area.
These maladies are causing much grief, and huge costs for our society.
If a link is found between a distally displaced mandible and brain disorders, the quality of life of our nation could be greatly improved.
William P. Smith, Jr., D.D.S.