A small study of 87 patients investigated whether poor oral health impacted the risk for cerebral abscesses, which are not common but have devastating effects on the health of those impacted. Authors of the paper “Oral Microbes and the Formation of Cerebral Abscesses: A Single-Centre Retrospective Study,” which was recently published in the Journal of Dentistry, did discover an association between the presence of oral bacteria and an increased incidence of brain abscesses. The analysis found that patients who had experienced a brain abscess with no known cause were more likely to have higher levels of certain oral bacteria, such as Streptococcus anginosus, than those who had a brain abscess with a diagnosed cause, such as endocarditis or penetrating head trauma