Why Athletes Need to Take Care of Their Teeth

Athletes Need to Take Extra Care of Their Teeth

Athletes are built to perform when it comes to their sport of choice. This can be entertaining, unique, and challenging, but most athletes forget about its impact on your teeth. Athletes care of teeth is vital to a healthy mouth.

Yes, your teeth won’t do well if you aren’t taking care of them, especially as a modern-day athlete.

Here are five of the most important reasons why athletes need to take care of their teeth.

1) Constant Dehydration

Athletes tend to sweat a lot, and that means needing constant access to a bottle of water. However, what about those periods when you are not consuming enough water and try to power through? This is common in sports, which is why athletes try to chug water during their breaks.

While dehydration isn’t good for the body as a whole, it’s also troublesome for your teeth.

Athletes will start to see an increase in oral health issues because of dehydration. This isn’t a good environment for your teeth to be in, and it will do quite a bit of damage over the long haul.

2) Increased Changes of Impact Injuries

Impact injuries are never a good thing, and they are something you want to avoid as an athlete. However, it’s not just about your bones and/or muscles. Instead, you also have to think about your teeth because they can easily get rattled by a high-impact incident.

For example, let’s assume you are playing a game of football and go for a tackle. Suppose you hit your mouth the wrong way. In that case, you may end up with a severe dental injury that will require immediate attention.

These are some of the reasons why you should use a mouthguard to help protect your teeth. Most of these sports mandate these solutions, but you should also wear them during practice sessions.

3) Heightened Corrosion from Mouthguards

Mouthguards are highly recommended, and they should always be used, but only in unison with good dental habits. Mouthguards can lead to bacteria developing and getting onto the teeth. This can be damaging over the long-term if you do not take the time to brush your teeth and floss as often as possible.

It’s all about creating a comprehensive, personalized oral hygiene routine. This way, you will remain on top of what’s going on in your mouth throughout the sports seasons.

4) Increased Consumption of Sugar

Sugar consumption is noted for being higher among athletes.

This has to do with wanting to maintain a certain level of carbs in the body. To do this, you are not going to find it easy to get those carbs through “healthy” foods, which is why many athletes try to feast on junk as a way to bolster their number of carbs.

Athletes will always have a reason for doing this, but you have to think about the teeth.

Your teeth won’t do well with this sudden increase in sugar, and it’s going to end up leading to tooth decay. Many athletes point to this concern due to the added sugar intake. If you are doing this, it’s recommended to brush your teeth multiple times per day to make sure the bacteria don’t spread and do damage.

5) Constant Grinding and Chomping of Teeth

Depending on the sport, athletes will often grind their teeth while playing. This is usually done as a way to extract every ounce of energy (imagine a bodybuilder lifting a heavy barbell!) and trying to push through a challenging physical scenario.

While this is great for maximizing your energy output as an athlete, it doesn’t bode well for your teeth. If you do this enough times, it will start chipping away at the enamel.

Final Thoughts

These are the main reasons why athletes need to take care of their teeth throughout the year. Playing sports is terrific for your heart and body, but it’s also essential to think about your dental health as an athlete. Otherwise, you are going to be dealing with a long list of oral health issues.

With these five reasons in mind, it’s possible to craft a plan that involves using a mouthguard and a comprehensive oral hygiene plan.