Stuart Ave Dentists

Although throughout the year the pools have a large influx of people who come to practice swimming, summer is the time when it has the highest peak. And is that a swim in the pool is one of the most used measures to cope with the high temperatures of the summer.

However, chlorine affects the enamel of teeth and oral health. “Not everyone knows, but the pools are treated with a high chlorine component that helps maintain the pH of the same and sometimes the amount of chlorine used is not entirely correct. This can be harmful to the enamel of people’s teeth, “specifies the specialist.

What can we do? The first point to pay attention to is the maintenance of the pool, especially those located in private homes, where more attention must be paid to the pH and water temperature controls. The reason is that all the chemical components that the water has make the proteins that we have in the saliva decompose and the organic deposits in the teeth increase.

These bacteria adhere more easily and are transformed into bacterial plaque that cause that plaque to mineralize, become harder and become tartar accumulated in the teeth. “This happens more in people who swim many hours a day, like professional swimmers who are swimming 6 hours a day, approximately. In them it is common for tartar to accumulate and yellowish or brown spots appear on the teeth, known as tartar of the swimmer.

What effects does it have on teeth?

When a person who is not a professional swimmer goes to the pool, they usually bathe for a while and spend some time in the sun or under the umbrella. The expert indicates that the exposure to chlorine that we usually have in a pool is not enough to damage that enamel, we would have to spend many hours, but it does recommend that you brush your teeth with a fluoride toothpaste after going to the pool, that will mitigate the acidity of the chlorine that can damage the enamel.

In addition to being an aesthetic problem (no one wants to have tartar between their teeth), it can have a very serious effect on oral health. “It can cause inflammation of the gums, which is what we call gingivitis, produce bad breath, also known as halitosis, and can cause tooth decay or periodontitis. All this adds to that, for example, when we increase the intake of carbohydrates and products rich in glucose or sugary drinks that makes all these problems get worse and worse.”

Adds and qualifies that normally we do not know the amount of chlorine used in swimming pools, which is a problem because that exposure, in the end, can cause tooth erosion that weakens the enamel a lot and causes tooth sensitivity and pain. This is why it is highly recommended to brush your teeth with fluoride toothpaste after going to the pool, and even swimmers who swim for 5 or 6 hours a day, it is recommended that they regularly go to the dentist to undergo dental fluoridation, an intervention in which a dental cleaning is done and then fluoride is administered that makes that chlorine erosion is mitigated and does not go any further.

What happens in saltwater pools?

Does this risk also exist in saltwater pools? The specialist indicates that these are much more advisable. In fact, we use salt water in dentistry because it helps to heal wounds, because that salt eliminates all the infection and the patient does not have pain, so those waters are not so harmful to health bucodental.

In addition, that they are more recommendable than water from the beach, because although it is also salty, this water can be contaminated with diesel or garbage and it is not clean water. On the other hand, the water in salty pools is purified and clean. That does not mean that everyone has to do rinses with salt water from the pool.