Sports and Dental Health
Whether you are engaging in recreational or professional sports, you need to be considerate of your oral health. Of course, sports have a lot of positive impacts on sportsmen, but we especially consider oral health, there are some dangers, too. Often sportsmen focus on changing eating patterns so that they can produce better results. These changes might create positive results, but at times, changes can be challenging to your oral health.
Oral health might be subjected to injuries and differences due to the change in eating patterns. Luckily, most oral health issues can be reduced or prevented. So the dentistry deals with these injuries in a successful manner. The dentistry focuses on doing their best to help the sports field along with the growing number of sportsmen. However, there’s more to sports and dental health; hence, let’s continue reading.
Injuries related to orofacial
Both team and individual sports have injuries related to orofacial. However, certain sports have higher risks, whereas there are some other sports with less risk for the dental health of players. Games that require close contact with the opponents have a higher rate of risk for injuries. For example, football is quite dangerous because two teams have to come in contact to win the game. When the players are focused on winning the game, they don’t fully concentrate on their health. Hence, injuries are way too common, and sports dentistry plays a significant role here.
Dental health and sports nutrition
It is a known fact that sportsmen follow a certain diet. A diet is pretty essential for a sportsman because it impacts the result produced. Unlike before, sportsmen require certain types of foods because their health needs to be maintained. Therefore, sportsmen are required to add certain amounts of vitamins, proteins, minerals, creatine, amino acid, carbs, and many other supplements. One can easily find different forms of supplements such as pills, powders, smoothies, and so on.
When you are adding nutrition to enhance dental health as a sportsman, you need to be extra careful. There are instances when too much of carbs may result in dental caries. Likewise, some sports supplements will become a threat to saliva secretion. Therefore, before you change your diet, it is important to consult a doctor and ensure that it is safe and healthy to follow the diet.
Tips for maintaining dental health as a sportsman
- Mouthguard shouldn’t be forgotten
You wear a helmet, knee pads, and many other gears to protect yourself from injuries. Similarly, you must make sure to wear a mouthguard. It will protect your teeth, tongue, lips, and jaws from getting injured. If the mouthguard fits you, it is more than enough, and there is nothing else to consider. Some sports have made mouthguard a must, which is a good thing.
- Ditch sugary sports drinks
You can quench thirst by drinking water instead of sugary sports drinks. Water is the best option to dehydrate because it doesn’t have sugar. If you consider sports drinks as the best option, it’s time to understand that it has a lot of sugar content. Sugar can easily trigger bacteria that are in your mouth and will simply risk cavities.
- Dental neatness (brush, floss)
You can create a habit by practicing. For example, none of the sports you are doing would have been your specialty, but mastering the skills has made it possible. Just like that, practicing dental tips will help you create dental habits. So focus on dental neatness of brushing, flossing, and following these regularly.
Dental health and sports require more attention that sportsmen think, so offer what they require.