Throughout high school I was a very active person. I played multiple sports and when I was not in season, I would always run on my own or go to the gym. However, I have also always had close to perfect teeth. I have never had a cavity in my life and I was very shocked to see an article stating that exercise could be bad for your teeth.

According to the New York Times, there was a study done in London at the 2012 Summer Olympics, dentists examined 278 athletes and majority of them had poor oral health. To further examine this a second study was conducted to see why this was happening. Researchers from the dental school at University Hospital Heidelberg in Germany recruited 35 competitive athletes and 35 adults who were not athletes. All of the volunteers had to have an oral examination before the study began. During the examination, dentists took samples of their saliva. They also had to fill out surveys about their diet. After everyone had their mouths looked at and completed the surveys, the athletes had to go on a 35 minute run. Their saliva was collected multiple times throughout the workout. The saliva samples were compared from when the athletes were just sitting to when they were completing their workout. The overall results was that the more time you spent working out, the more likely you were to get cavities. The reasons for this is because working out caused the amount of saliva to decrease and the athletes mouths became drier. The saliva also grew more alkaline as the workout progressed. More alkaline in the saliva will cause more plaque on teeth which can cause cavities. The scientists did further research to test if water or sports drinks would contribute to this, but no direct link was found.

There are some errors I found in the study that do not make it very accurate. First of all, the study was very small. Only 70 people participated in the study. If the amount of participants was larger, the final outcome would be more accurate if the correlation was found in majority of the participants. This study was also short-term. The scientists should create a study that tests the long-term effects as well. Personally, this study would not stop me from exercising because I would rather risk getting a cavity than lose all of the other benefits that come with exercising. If a study came out with serious long-term effects such as it leading to mouth cancer than I would most likely reduce my amount exercise greatly.

The article states that the 35 athletes and 35 non-athletes matched in age and gender. However, they were not specific with the range of ages. I am curious what age group they tested and if it is more common in a certain age group. Also, if they only tested one specific age group, I wonder if the same correlation would appear in other age groups. Age could potentially play a big role in the results.

I also think that the scientists should have conducted more studies analyzing the role of sports drinks and water. They found no direct link, but I think that sugary drinks can effect oral health problems so it would be interesting to see further results on that topic.

I found this to be a very interesting study. It seems as if scientists and doctors are always promoting exercise because it has unlimited benefits for our health. The possible cause of oral health problems that might arise from exercise is one of the few disadvantages to exercising. Keep in mind that this study is not 100% accurate and the athletes that participated worked out about 9 hours per week on average. The average person exercises 30 minutes a day which would equal 3.5 hours per week. (Mayo Clinic). This study is not trying to discourage people from exercising, instead it is only trying to spread awareness of a possible short-term effect.