The importance of oral health for good athletic performance

Boxers accustomed us to see the dental protection in sports, but now we can see them in many other sports. Footballers, rugby players, and basketball professionals use these protections to protect your teeth from impact and limit the movement of the joint.

What they want athletes who use such protections is to prevent any impact caused by aspect or other sports-related injuries. Oral health problems affecting the sport and it are why we must prevent and try to avoid them. Oral health problems related to the sport can be divided into two, first those that are the result of bad oral care area and then those caused by the practice of sports.

How the oral condition affects athletic performance?

Origin oral infections can affect other organs, muscles, tendons and joints due to the spread of blood-borne bacteria.

The absence of any of the teeth can also affect athletes. On one hand, an overload occurs TMJ moving cervical this voltage. Furthermore, since the absence of a tooth does not allow a good crushing the food, digestion is altered, affecting fact diet and, consequently, to sports performance.

Other sequelae that can result are poor oral infection muscle recovery; they favor contractures and the postural tonic system is affected athletes, a fact that often leads to muscle fatigue. It reduces muscle recovery and athletic performance.

Malocclusion or bad position of the teeth in the jaws allows greater retention of plaque occurs, favoring the development of caries and gum inflammation. People with poor dental occlusion are more prone to dental trauma, which they are common in sports practice.

Sport can cause oral lesions

The practice of sport, mostly in contact, may involve hitting causing all kinds of dental injuries. Fractures, dental avulsion (tooth loss) and temporomandibular joint problems are the most common consequences.

The stress to which it is subjected favors the athlete bruxism, which is the unconscious habit of clenching. So a major work of oral muscles, which in turn causes pain in the muscles of the head, neck and back are forced.

The importance of preventing

Athletes, like anyone else, should maintain proper oral hygiene to prevent problems such as cavities or mouth infections. With careful oral hygiene, proper occlusion and making regular visits to the dentist will greatly reduce the risk of problems related to oral health due to the practice of sport.

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