Alzheimer’s Disease- Oral hygiene

Disclaimer: This post may come off as insensitive.
I just finished reading an article titled “Trouble Thinking? Better See the Dentist” found here http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5AC06O20091113.
Let me start off by saying I worked in a dental office for 2 years.
The patients who came in with the WORST cases of Periodontitis & Calculus were usually the most uneducated and apathetic patients we would see. For some, a lifetime of calculus would cake onto their teeth so badly that they thought their teeth were simply growing. That’s what I said: THEY THOUGHT THEIR TEETH WERE GROWING!
For these patients, the only thing more painful than seeing the dentist would be reading The Great Gatsby. But I digress.
The Amyloid Hypothesis associated with chronic inflammation has been questioned as a causative factor in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s disease. Granted, I saw plenty of inflamed gum tissue in my time working in a dental office. But these epidemiological studies are simply telling me that the less health conscious individuals are showing early signs of Alzheimer’s disease for the sake of being unhealthy. What frustrates me is the scientific spin on it “those with the highest levels of the gum disease-causing pathogen Porphyromonas gingivalis were three times more likely to have trouble recalling a three-word sequence after a period of time.” When a dentist assesses gum disease, they stick a probe in your gums and measure the depth. It takes 5 seconds, less if you don’t have gum disease. This article makes it sound like they cultured the Porphyromonas gingivalis and really narrowed it down as a pathogen for Alzheimer’s disease.
Growing up, my dad would always tell me “Sit mens sana in corpore sano”, which is Latin for “a healthy mind in a healthy body” (my mom is Latina; dad is from New York…he says it in Latin to look cool). I think we should continue looking into the Amyoloid Hypothesis as a pathophysiological factor in the progression of Alzheimer’s Disease. However, I think there are things we control on a day to day basis that can make our brains healthier and more useful.