gum

Dr Praveen Sharma, from the school of dentistry at the University of Birmingham, says that half of adults in the UK will have gum disease at some point and an early sign is bleeding gums.

One of the group “plunged her tusks up to the gums in the body of my Land-Rover . . . again she charged, and the Land-Rover was carried backwards at high speed for thirty-five yards.”

The study found an association between gum disease and these brain changes, though it does not prove that one causes the other.

Illegal teeth-whitening treatments that can burn gums and destroy teeth are being sold in car parks and on social media, a BBC investigation has found.

Gum disease, also known as periodontal disease, is a chronic inflammation or infection of the gums and the bone that supports the teeth.