Braces versus Retainers: A Comprehensive Overveiw

Braces versus Retainers: A Comprehensive Overveiw

Three Ways Your Exercise Habits Could Impact Your Dental Health

by Lonnie Bryant

There are so many ways that exercising is beneficial to your health, but surprisingly, there are also a couple of ways where exercise habits take an adverse toll on the body. Now that you want to get fit and toned before summer arrives, consider the impact that this decision could have on your teeth. Not too sure what the link is between the two? Exercising can affect your dental health in three ways, so it pays to be mindful of how you can avoid all of them.

Gritting Your Teeth

Sometimes at the end of an exercise or during an extended plank period, you might grit your teeth to hang in there. There are two problems with gritting your teeth, though:

  1. Holding your jaw in a clenched position for a period can lead to damage. Jaw joints suffer cartilage damage when you clench your mouth because the clench pushes your jaw upwards and backwards.
  2. While the jaw is held fixed in place, your teeth can grind together, which wears off the protective enamel.

Rather than gritting your teeth to get through an exercise, use controlled breathing to get you through to the end.

Breathing Through The Mouth

Breathing through the mouth is another area where dental damage occurs during exercise. When you put your lungs under pressure, you breathe through your mouth to get more air into your body. However, breathing through your mouth dries out the moisture which is in there. Once your saliva evaporates from the mouth, bacteria can thrive, as it is the saliva which flushes it away.

When bacteria grow on the teeth, cavities occur, so make a conscious effort to breathe through your nose for as long as you can when exercising. If you breathe through your mouth while working out, brush your teeth as soon as you can to remove any bacteria buildup attacking your teeth.

Sports Drinks

Many exercisers turn to sports drinks while working out to stay hydrated. However, sports drink ingredients include sugar and citric acid. Sugar feeds oral bacteria, and citric acid weakens tooth enamel, so neither of these ingredients does your teeth any good.

Before you get back into your exercise routine, have a dental checkup if you have not had one in the past year. Your dentist will make sure there are no cavities or other dental issues lurking in your mouth. Once you are exercising regularly, have an annual checkup so any exercise-related issues can be diagnosed and treated early.


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About Me

Braces versus Retainers: A Comprehensive Overveiw

There are more than two ways to straighten a smile, and in this blog, I plan to discuss them all. I plan to look at the differences between braces and retainers and explain why sometimes you may need them both. I look at the differences in cost, time commitment and efficacy. Personally, I have had a bit of experience with this subject – I had braces as a young teen, and I had a permanent retainer. In this blog, I discuss what I have learned, and I present all kinds of new information on the topic. Whether you are trying to make decisions for yourself or your child. I hope you find this information useful.