14 Feb February 2019
Budding Artist Alert!
We’d like you to meet our patient Raha, a 12 year old with incredible artistic talent! We were honored to receive her beautiful canvas whale painting which was specially created for our office! We look forward to seeing Raha at her upcoming appointments, and watching her career as an artist blossom!
Birthdays and Anniversaries
We are wishing Julie a very happy birthday this month! A fun fact about Julie: Her happy place is definitely in her garden. Her love of flowers and plants coms from her childhood, when her family owned a flower shop!
Happy office anniversary to Lisa! Lisa has now been at the office for two years. Lisa is our imaging specialist, handling both digital radiography and scanning technology with expertise. On her off-time, Lisa enjoys bike riding, and taking spin classes.
Gum Disease Linked to Alzheimers
A new study published this week in Science Advances, suggests that bacteria found in gum disease, called Porphyromonas gingivalis, may be linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Researchers studied the bacteria in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s and conducted tests on mice. The results showed that gum infection led to an increased production of amyloid beta, a part of the amyloid plaques associated with Alzheimer’s disease. Author Casey Lynch, reported that these new findings shed light on an unexpected driver of Alzheimer’s pathology. Clinical progress against the disease thus far has been frustratingly slow, he reports, despite significant funding and the best efforts of academic, industry, and advocacy communities. The pharmaceutical company Cortexyme, which funded the research, is now designing a series of therapies to treat the gum infection that plan to go to Phase 2 and 3 clinical trials. Dr. Zachary’s mom suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, so this is of particular interest to him.
Happy Valentine’s Day!
Dr. Zachary and his office would like to wish all of our patients and their families a Valentine’s Day full of love, laughter, and special times with the ones you love.