3 Ways that Exercise Can Negatively Impact Your Oral Health

Getting in shape is almost always a good thing. Doing what you can to feel your best and make your body more mobile is something that just about any health professional will recommend.

However, if you aren’t careful, exercise could potentially damage your oral health (indirectly, anyway). If you’re wondering what to watch out for, here are some of the dangers to your teeth associated with exercise.

Dry Mouth

When you really start exerting yourself, it’s natural to spend a lot of your time breathing through your mouth. Over time that can start to dry it out, reducing the amount of saliva you have to work with.

This saliva is ordinarily used to break down food particles and to neutralize the pH of the mouth, which is important in preventing tooth decay and gum disease. Without that saliva, you could wind up at greater risk of these oral health problems.

If you’re breathing through your mouth, make it a point to stay hydrated. This will supplement the saliva you’ve lost and prevent the buildup of bacteria.

Sugary Drinks

While you’re staying hydrated, however, you should still be careful about what it is that you drink. Sugary sports drinks can be tempting, but the more of them you put in your mouth the more that you feed the bacteria that live there. This problem can be exacerbated by mouth breathing, which dries out the mouth and leaves these sugars on the teeth.

When you’re working out and need to rehydrate, try and stick with water. You’ll be able to keep your energy up just fine, without the need for sugars.

Increased Blood Flow

While getting the blood flowing isn’t necessarily a problem for your oral health, it can be a little bit of an inconvenience in certain circumstances. If you’re suffering from a toothache, have just gotten dental work, or if you’ve recently had a tooth extracted, an increase in blood flow to the mouth can make the sore places in your mouth more irritated. In some cases, old wounds could even reopen.

If you’re dealing with oral health problems, don’t be shy about taking time to recover. If you rest up and take aftercare seriously, odds are that you’ll be back to 100% even faster than if you rushed things.

About the Author

Dr. Franco Cordini actually began his career in banking, but decided that he wanted to do something that would make a real impact on people’s lives. Now, having been a periodontist for 20 years, he’s happy to say that he can do that for his patients every day. Dr. Cordini received his degree from the Creighton University School of Dentistry, and trained in periodontics at the University of Louisville.

If you have any questions about the role of exercise in oral health, we can be reached at our website or by phone at (502) 425-5010.