Professional sports players consume litres of sports drinks each year, but this could potentially be contributing to extensive damage to their teeth.
Numerous studies have now linked sports drinks to enamel erosion, which often causes tooth decay. The sugar and high acid content in the drinks wears away the protective enamel surface of the teeth, causing the dentin portion of the tooth to become exposed. The dentin is much less robust than the enamel and subsequently, the tooth becomes much more vulnerable to decay.
One of the athletes suffering the consequences of a career fuelled by sports drinks is Australian triathlete, Jacinta Worland. Ms Worland has now retired but is still paying for her successful career as a triathlete, as she suffers from poor dental health. She has already undergone a number of complex root canal treatments and had extensive restoration treatment, yet she is still suffering and is now waiting for an operation to have four teeth extracted; in total she will have paid over twenty thousand dollars for dental care this year.
Ms Worland is now suffering from poor oral health as a result of years of drinking sports drinks on a daily basis; at the time, she said she was blissfully unaware of the damage she was doing to her teeth and continued to drink them throughout her career.
Experts in both the sport science and dental health fields are in agreement over the need for further research into the content of these drinks. John Banky, a dental surgeon and a member of the Australian Dental Association and Sports Medicine Australia said that athletes need to be advised of the possible harm these products could do to their teeth. Experts also recommended that athletes were at a greater risk of tooth decay because they frequently snack on carbohydrates and may be dehydrated during or shortly after physical activity; this makes the teeth more vulnerable to decay.
Now, Ms Worland has replaced her daily sports drink with water, but she is keen to let other athletes know of the pain she has experienced as a result of regularly consuming sugary sports drinks, so that they don’t suffer the same fate.
