When we talk about leading a healthy lifestyle, we are all thinking about eating right and exercising regularly. However, a healthy lifestyle also includes aspects such as good hygiene, in this case maintaining good oral health.
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Impact of oral health on performance
Since the 1968 Olympics, there has been a link between elite athletes and the oral health of the poor.
According to a systematic review, 28% to 40% of athletes say that their oral health affects their quality of life and 5% to 18% of their performance. Oral health is also one of the factors that determine the quality of life.
There is little evidence on how diseases such as caries, periodontal disease, and periodontitis negatively affect quality of life. And the impact in this area can make a big difference in the performance of that sporting elite.
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Pain, systemic inflammation or the impact of an athlete on the social environment may be part of the cause of poor performance due to poor physiological adaptation to training or its poor quality.
Why is the athlete’s oral hygiene deficient?
With very few studies available, it is difficult to establish one or more strong causes. Still, it is almost impossible to design a good study that can answer this question.
High carbohydrate intake, especially from gels and sports drinks, is speculated to be one of the nutritional causes of diseases such as dental caries in elite athletes. It is also said that eating disorders can cause vomiting and damage enamel, especially in light weight sports such as gymnastics, boxing and horse riding.
Another cause that can contribute to the appearance of these diseases is oral dehydration during sports. Saliva has a moisturizing and remineralizing effect, deficient in the aforementioned carbohydrate drinks and below, which increases the diffuse effect on teeth.
What can you do to keep your teeth healthy?
For the nutritional habits of elite athletes, it is difficult to make a difference because training performance depends on these habits, but regular visits to the dental office prophylactically are good oral hygiene.
For amateur practitioners, it is important to maintain oral hygiene habits, as an overdose of sugar and acidic drinks and poor oral hygiene can cause a variety of diseases.
After all, the best medicine is prevention. This is because many drug models are treatment-based and treatment-based, but not prevention-based, which is detrimental to both patient health and societal health costs.
