Midlife Periodontal Disease and Cognitive Functioning: Evidence from the High School and Beyond Cohort

Periodontal disease is a prevalent, preventable, and highly treatable oral infection that is (1) stratified by sociodemographic, educational, and spatial factors and (2) is believed to impact cognitive impairment and ADRD risk. There is very little information from community-based, population-representative, longitudinal studies about the association between periodontal disease and midlife cognitive functioning net of early life confounders. This research seeks to fill that gap and further understand the associations between periodontal disease and race/ethnicity, early life socioeconomic circumstances, and education.