Elite Athletes Have High Rates of Oral Disease Despite Brushing Twice Daily

Elite and professional athletes have a substantial amount of tooth problems despite practicing good oral hygiene because of their high consumption of sports drinks, gels, and energy bars, finds a new study.

Elite athletes have poor oral health despite brushing their teeth more regularly than most people, reports a new study. The findings of the study are published in the British Dental Journal.//

The study highlight potential for improvement as most of the athletes expressed an interest in changing their oral hygiene behavior to improve their oral health.

Dental Check-Up
It is commonly recommended that you visit the dentist twice a year to clean your teeth and gums and also do the basic check–ups.

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The UCL Eastman Dental Institute research team surveyed 352 Olympic and professional athletes across 11 sports, including cycling, swimming, rugby, football, rowing, hockey, sailing, and athletics, when they provided dental check-ups for male and female athletes measuring tooth decay, gum health and acid erosion.

The researchers also asked athletes what they did to keep their mouth, teeth, and gums healthy.

The dental check-ups revealed substantial amounts of oral disease as reported in a 2018 paper, finding that nearly half (49.1%) had untreated tooth decay, the large majority showed early signs of gum inflammation, and almost a third (32%) reported that their oral health had a negative impact on their training and performance.

Toothache | Dental pain |Tooth pain
A toothache is a pain in or around a tooth that occurs due to various reasons that irritate the nerve supplied to tooth. Though Toothache is not life-threatening, it can get worse if left untreated.

Elite athletes have poor oral health despite their efforts to care for their teeth: this new study found that 94% reported brushing their teeth at least twice a day, and 44% reported regularly cleaning between their teeth (flossing) - substantially higher figures than for the general population (75% for twice-daily brushing and 21% for flossing**).

The researchers found that the athletes regularly use sports drinks (87%), energy bars (59%) and energy gels (70%), which are known to damage teeth.

Oral Care Tips for Aging Teeth
Good oral hygiene habits should be maintained as you age so as to prevent oral health problems and to have a healthy smile that looks great even during old age.

"We found that a majority of the athletes in our survey already have good oral health-related habits in as much as they brush their teeth twice a day, visit the dentist regularly, don't smoke and have a healthy general diet," said researcher Dr Julie Gallagher (UCL Eastman Dental Institute Centre for Oral Health and Performance).

"However, they use sports drinks, energy gels and bars frequently during training and competition; the sugar in these products increases the risk of tooth decay, and the acidity of them increases the risk of erosion. This could be contributing to the high levels of tooth decay and acid erosion we saw during the dental check-ups."

Toothpaste: A Necessity of Daily Life
Toothpaste is a key part of the oral hygiene routine that helps to remove food debris and plaque from teeth and gums. Depending on the ingredients, they can also add other benefits.

The study builds on research carried out by the Centre since the London 2012 Olympics, led by Professor Ian Needleman. Previous findings have suggested that elite athletes may also face an elevated risk of oral disease from a dry mouth during intensive training.

Encouragingly, the surveyed athletes said they would consider adopting even better oral hygiene habits to tackle this, and an intervention study has already been piloted.

Dr. Gallagher said: "Athletes were willing to consider behavior changes such as additional fluoride use from mouthwash, more frequent dental visits, and reducing their intake of sports drinks, to improve oral health."

"We subsequently asked some of them and support team members to help us design an oral health intervention study, based on contemporary behavior change theory, and we will publish the results soon."

Source-Eurekalert