Dental Disease May Undermine Elite Athletic Performance

2/23/2026 at 9:25:55 PM

As someone who struggles heavily with my dental health due to the difficulty of doing basic self-care with a myriad of comorbid mental disorders I experience dental pain anytime I engage in any cario activities that exceed my “normal” baseline by too big of a margin.

by natpalmer1776

2/22/2026 at 10:40:24 PM

I have noticed on multiple occassions that under conditions of extreme exertion (i.e., exceeding my textbook maximum heart rate), I get pain in my mouth, almost like every tooth has an infected cavity. I had always just found it an interesting effect. But, in reading this, I presume that elite athletes are in such states far more often than I, and that whatever the underlying mechanism is that causes the pain might also be deteriorating the dental health. I've never been able to find a plausible explanation of the effect that tracks with my actual circumstances (i.e., as far as my dentist and I can tell, I have excellent dental health, but I am not an elite athlete, just a weekend warrior who sometimes overdoes it).

by wjb3

2/22/2026 at 11:45:05 PM

Consult a passionate dental hygienist or get a second opinion from a different dentist. Either you are doing yourself no favors by biting to push over the top and should probably get some kind of a retainer like boxers have to prevent overloading your teeth.

Or you are one of many people that have been told how great their teeth are yet which have periodontitis/ gum inlfamation. (Source: My wife is an established dental hygienist keeping up with the newest approaches, going to advanced courses, visiting conferences.) If your gums are redish instead of light pink that's a good indication. If you are bleeding on regular use of interdental brushes/ flossing that's another hint something might be off.

by kaliszad

2/23/2026 at 4:29:46 AM

I get something similar, not pain but definitely sensations. It was more apparent when I was having dental work done, and the dentist did say to not over exert straight after visiting him because of the increase of blood flow to the gums.

You might just have sensitive gums. There are a couple of places where mine are really sensitive even though there's no disease or teeth issues around them. Because of the other tooth work (implants) I've had a lot of scans and probing of my whole mouth by multiple people so I'm certain there's no problems there - so it's very possible you have no underlying issue either.

by jemmyw

2/23/2026 at 2:26:43 AM

More likely than not you just clench your jaw

by dilyevsky

2/22/2026 at 10:18:39 PM

So there's a study which shows that elite athletes have more dental issues. And the conclusion is a conjecture that this might impact athletic performance but that wasn't studied explicitly? Or am I missing something?

by mhb

2/23/2026 at 2:57:21 AM

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by NedF

2/23/2026 at 5:37:45 AM

One of my friends was an elite athlete a couple of decades back(eg. won a national champion in a solo track and field event as well as a gold medal in the world championships)

He’s mentioned before how he’s always had bad teeth. He chalks it up to growing up around bad water, I assumed it was because he eats bagels and other carbohydrates almost exclusively, but maybe this is why!

by shartshooter

2/22/2026 at 10:06:53 PM

Why is it so high among athletes? Lack of consistent income or insurance?

PS: The are no bad questions...

by mgh2

2/22/2026 at 11:59:40 PM

Many are just not that diligent with proper dental hygiene. Interdental brushes/ superfloss are used only occasionally if at all and not every day. There are people that brush for 2 minutes and call it a day, because they heard it's enough in some advert or because the electric toothbrush stops. Well, it turns out you need a lot longer than that and a reasonable technique if you want to keep your teeth clean and healthy.

The acidic, sugary drinks and food don't help at all. Drinking mineral water (no sugar, no extra acids) or to wash the mouth with regular water or a low concentration sodium bicarbonate / baking soda solution to balance pH after eating/ drinking something else would probably help. Of course, if not dissolved completely, the baking soda could act as an abrasive which wouldn't be that great for tooth health so probably just use regular water.

You don't need to invest much money to keep good oral health, it certainly is much cheaper to fix the problems that will arise if you don't, if they can be fixed at all. It however does cost effort/ time.

by kaliszad

2/23/2026 at 1:50:29 AM

You certainly don’t need to brush for longer than 2 minutes. Overbrushing is a concern as well.

by emp17344

2/23/2026 at 8:42:26 AM

Correct. The worst thing you can do with a tooth brush is to drink something acidic or extremely sugary (like a sports gel) and then immediately brush your teeth aggressively.

There are three main tooth diseases: Cavities caused by bacteria, loose teeth through gum disease and (permanent) erosion of enamel.

The last one is easy but annoying to prevent: Only brush your teeth 30 minutes after you got rid of food debris/sugar/acid in your mouth using your tongue and by drinking water.

by imtringued

2/22/2026 at 10:12:14 PM

  > Nutrition is a key factor in this relationship. Frequent consumption of fermentable carbohydrates like gels, sports drinks, and bars increases the risk for caries, and acidic sports drinks promote dental erosion, especially when consumed during exercise and with low saliva flow.

by yvgny

2/22/2026 at 10:18:01 PM

Yes, that is what the paper says, but a high carb. diet is also common in the general population. There might be other unexplored reasons - ex: tennis players with constant tours and lack of consistent pay contributes to less dentist visits to fix these.

by mgh2

2/23/2026 at 4:17:55 AM

Neurotoxins is number 1 cause of poor performance. Dental disease is the quickest path to neurotoxicity

by LowLevelKernel

2/23/2026 at 10:13:30 AM

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by black_13