Oral-Systemic Antiaging Mechanisms and Intervention Strategies Guided by Traditional Chinese Medicine Principle of Preventive Treatment of Disease

Population aging has become a global issue, and aging-related diseases have emerged as a major public health challenge. Inflammatory aging—the fundamental pathological basis of aging-related diseases—is closely associated with oral health status. However, current research and clinical practice remain limited by bottleneck issues, such as the separation of oral and systemic prevention and treatment strategies and the lack of systematic approaches to break the oral-systemic vicious cycle. This review addresses both the mechanisms and intervention strategies of the bidirectional oral-systemic regulation in anti-aging. We propose that the oral cavity serves as a precursory warning window for systemic aging and provide an in-depth analysis of the underlying mechanisms by which the oral cavity and the whole body form a bidirectional vicious pathogenic cycle through the immune-inflammatory network. At the molecular level, 3 key pathways are highlighted, including the lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)/nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) axis, the advanced glycation end products (AGEs)/receptor for advanced glycation end products (RAGE) axis, and the oral-brain neural feedback pathway. On this basis and under the guidance of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) principle of preventive treatment of disease, a three-tier collaborative intervention system covering the entire life course is proposed. Supported by multidisciplinary collaboration, a new integrated model incorporating early warning, intervention, and rehabilitation is established, thereby providing a comprehensive solution that integrates the holistic approach of TCM with modern life sciences to address the challenges of population aging.