Top athletes plagued by dental disease

That's according to a cross-sectional study presented at EuroPerio9 in Amsterdam this week.

Previous studies conducted with Olympic athletes and professional football players in the UK have already indicated that poor oral health is common among elite athletes and associated with negative self-eported impacts on wellbeing, training and performance.

This cross sectional study conducted in 2016 prior to the Summer Olympics in Rio, included 325 athletes from different sports including athletics, rugby and football. The mean age of athletes who took part in the study was 25 years (range 18-29) and 67% of respondents were male.

Overall, 32% of athletes reported an oral health impact on sport performance. Other impacts reported were difficulty with eating (34.6%), difficulty sleeping or relaxing (15.1%) and negative effects on smiling and self-confidence (17.2%). Only 1.1% of the sample was found to be in 'excellent' periodontal health, with 87,5% of athletes presenting half the mouth affected by gingivitis* and 21.6% presenting periodontitis. Also, 39% of athletes reported bleeding gums while cleaning their teeth (a sign of inflammation).