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By Lanita Withers Goins, University Relations
Contact: (336) 334-3890
Posted 7-21-09
GREENSBORO, N.C. — Dr. Bei Wu, an associate professor in the gerontology program at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, has been awarded a four year, $1.3 million grant by the National Institutes of Health to study the link between dental health and cognitive decline in older populations.
Wu, the principal investigator for the grant, shares the award with Dr. Brenda L. Plassman of Duke University, Dr. Jersey Liang of the University of Michigan and Dr. Richard Crout of West Virginia University.
The researchers hope to gain a deeper understanding of the link between oral health and cognitive impairment with the goal of developing intervention strategies, Wu said. They hope this grant will create opportunities for further study.
“Poor oral health is very common among older adults as is cognitive decline, with the worse case being Alzheimer’s disease and dementia,” she said. “If we have better knowledge about these two health outcomes, we could potentially provide prevention strategies that can help improve people’s oral and cognitive health. These are our main goals.”
Work for the grant research, which includes analyzing national and regional data culled from community-based samples, has already begun.
While research has already established a strong association between oral health and heart disease, stroke and diabetes, there has been little study of how the state of older person’s teeth and gums might relate to their cognitive decline. “We want to provide some knowledge that can help us to understand the mechanism between these two, oral health and cognitive impairment,” Wu said.
Wu, who joined UNCG’s Gerontology Program in the January, has extensive experience conducting research on aging and health, including dementia, caregiving, oral health, long-term care and health services use among older adults. She is the principal investigator of two ongoing National Institutes of Health/ National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research funded projects investigating cognitive function and oral health in older adults and social support, depression and oral health in late life.
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