3 SPORTS TIPS TO PROTECT YOUR ORAL HEALTH

July 24, 2019

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Sports are fun and provide valuable exercise, but they can also be damaging to your body, including your oral health. There are many tips you can follow, however, that will better protect your teeth while you are having fun. If you want to know more about protecting your oral health, keep reading.

1. Use a Mouth Guard

Many sports are high-impact, such as football and rugby. Imagine getting tackled by someone and hitting your face against the ground. Without a mouth guard, there are many problems that can arise. At the very least, you may cut the inside of your mouth against your teeth. However, in more severe cases, teeth can actually completely shatter or get knocked out of your mouth.

In other cases, the tooth may get pushed down or up into the tooth socket. On the other hand, some teeth may be partially knocked out of the socket. In either case, don't touch the tooth. Use over-the-counter pain medications and ice to reduce the pain until you can see your dentist. Trying to fix the tooth yourself will only worsen the situation.

Some sports may require more than a mouth guard, such as football, which also requires a helmet with a faceguard to better protect your mouth against the force of another person or the ground. Always make sure you are using the right equipment for the activity.

2. Stay Hydrated

Staying hydrated is always important for your overall health, but if you are partaking in sports, especially those that require a lot of energy (or the weather is warm), you may need more water than average to keep your body hydrated.

Severe dehydration can lead to major and life-threating conditions, such as heat injury, kidney problems, seizures and low blood volume shock. However, even mild dehydration can negatively impact your oral health. In particular, being dehydrated reduces the amount of saliva your body naturally produces.

Without this saliva to naturally remove plaque, your risk of decay and gum irritation increases. For this reason, if you have any other condition that is causing dehydration, such as diarrhea, it may be best to avoid the sports and stay inside until you're feeling better.

3. Avoid Sugary Drinks

One way to stay hydrated is to drink water, but is water enough? There are many sports drinks that promise to hydrate you better than water, and in some cases, they actually do. This is because they contain sodium and vitamins, which you lose when you sweat. This better helps reduce your risk of becoming dehydrated.

The sports drinks also often contain protein, so you can get some long-lasting energy without having to eat and digest food. Eating food in the middle of playing sports can lead to cramps or nausea.. The sports drinks also have lots of carbohydrates, which provide instant energy. Of course, many sports drinks contain lots of sugar to make them more palatable. Unfortunately, this can lead to decay.

When possible, choose sugar-free sports drinks. If you don't have sugar-free options, switching between sports drinks and water may help wash away some of the sugar. Chewing sugar-free gum can also help, and remember to brush your teeth when you're done playing sports.

If you don't consider your teeth when you play sports, you are making a major mistake. Trauma, dry mouth and sugary sports drinks can increase the risk of decay or total tooth loss. If you would like to know more about how to better protect your teeth during sports, or if you want to ask about a customized mouth guard,  contact us  at Desert Dental: Ruintan Kamran DMD today.

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