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Shrunken Performance Football professionals in England have bad teeth
In the past, teeth in British professional football were usually only topic when the former Premier League player Luis Suárez again bite an opponent. But researchers have been busy with the dental health of football players on the island. According to their study, most of the ball artists have worse teeth than other young men. This can even affect their athletic performance.
English professional footballer with dental problems
German health experts warned recently: tooth decay in infants is increasing more and more. The tooth decay is also a problem for many adults. In the United Kingdom, it seems to be widespread among high earners: According to a recent survey, many footballers in the English Premier League have such bad teeth that their playful abilities are impaired. As stated in the study published in the British Journal of Sports, nearly 80 percent of UK football professionals have caries. About seven percent suffered according to the information even under such a strong toothache that they saw their sporting ability impaired.
Picture: belinka - fotolia Condition of the teeth worse than other young men
According to a news agency AFP, the authors of the study were surprised to find that the clubs rarely employ dentists for their players, although they otherwise invest huge sums in them. According to the study, the condition of the teeth of professional footballers is on average worse than that of other young men in the UK. Accordingly, five percent suffer from an irreversible disease of the gums. The London dental expert Ian Needleman, who conducted the examination with six dentists, reported that in some cases even an infection of the wisdom teeth had been detected.
Impact on performance
For the study, 187 professional footballers in the average age of 24 years of eight clubs from the Premier League and the second and third league were examined. Which professionals in the investigation were not known, but according to the information were players from Manchester United, Southampton, Swansea City and West Ham United with it. The athletes were asked about the condition of their teeth and their impact on their performance and their private lives. One in six respondents reported toothache, and one in four responded to hot or cold drinks. About 20 percent of respondents said that the disease of the teeth and gums affected the quality of life.
Improve dental health of the players
In addition, the researchers found that the bad dental health affects the game of Kickerstars: "Both the performance and the well-being is negatively affected," said Needleman, according to a report by "Spiegel Online". However, these data are based on subjective assessments of footballers. The study authors urged immediate action to improve the dental health of athletes. According to the researchers, the large amount of sports drinks consumed by the pros could be a reason for the bad teeth. However, they emphasized that so far there are only a few indications and no evidence for this relationship.
Problems also known from other sports
Needleman had already put forward another hypothesis in a previous investigation: The physical exhaustion thus leads to a dry mouth in many athletes. Due to the dehydration and the conversion to oral breathing they lack the saliva, which protects the teeth from decay and erosion. Also from other sports above-average problems with the dental health are known. According to "Spiegel Online", physicians who offered a sports medical service to the athletes during the 2012 Summer Olympics in London in the Olympic Village reported that 30 percent of all treatments were done by the athletes. (Ad)