Canadian ultrarunner and dentist Dr. Arden Younger lately shared oral well being recommendation tailor-made for endurance athletes, sparking enthusiastic reactions on-line. Her Instagram submit was partly a response to questions in regards to the addition of bicarbonate in sports activities drinks made by the corporate Maurten.
Ultrarunners—athletes who cowl distances beginning at 50 kilometres and increasing to so far as 3,100 miles—have to devour carbohydrates throughout lengthy races to take care of their power ranges. However as Younger defined, this could come at a value to their oral well being.
“In brief, the quantity and frequency of carbohydrate that an endurance athlete ingests throughout competitors and coaching can wreak havoc in your mouth, growing threat of enamel erosion, dental cavities, and inflammatory periodontal illness,” she wrote.
Younger, who gained the ladies’s race on the historic 47.7-kilometre Quad Dipsea in California in 2021 and completed sixth general, returned in 2023, shaving 9 minutes off her earlier time to put eleventh general in 4:39:15. She elaborated on the dangers of the difficult course.
“There are a bunch of things concerned,” she wrote, “however the primary one [is] that cavity-causing oral micro organism metabolize sugars and produce acid, which dissolves tooth. Along with this acid manufacturing, most sports activities drinks are acidic, with [a] pH round 3. Saliva will neutralize that pH, but it surely takes time, and each time you’re taking a swig of that sports activities drink, the method begins once more. (Therefore why it’s cool that Maurten provides bicarb to neutralize the pH.)”
Whereas it’s unclear whether or not the submit was sponsored, Younger used the chance to share recommendations on how athletes can defend their tooth. She advised sustaining good oral hygiene, utilizing a fluoride rinse or high-fluoride toothpaste (round 5,000 ppm), and rinsing with plain water after taking in gels or different carbs to assist neutralize oral pH extra rapidly.
Younger additionally linked to a evaluation titled Sports activities Food plan and Oral Well being in Athletes: A Complete Assessment (PMID: 38399605) for these all in favour of studying additional.
Followers responded enthusiastically to her recommendation. “That is dope. Thank ya kindly for sharing ,” one commenter wrote. One other added, “Dang, I had no thought, and I really like this! Share extra! .”