Poor Oral Health Common in London 2012 Olympic Athletes

More than half of the Olympic athletes who participated in a study during the 2012 summer games in London had poor oral health, and many of them believed their oral health had a negative impact on their performance.

During the two-week long event, researchers from University College London surveyed 302 Olympians at the dental clinic at the athlete's village. The athletes surveyed represented 25 sporting events, including track and field, boxing and hockey.

Overall the researchers found striking levels of poor oral health in the athletes comparted to other people their age. Fifty-five percent of the surveyed athletes suffered from tooth decay, with 41 percent of them having tooth decay so advanced it was irreversible.

More than 75 percent of the athletes has gingivitis (early stage gum disease) and 15 percent showed signs of the irreversible gum infection periodontitis.

Nearly two-thirds of athletes surveyed said their poor oral health was affecting their quality of life and almost one-in-five said their performance or training was negatively affected by their oral health.

The researchers said the oral health of many of the Olympic athletes was similar to levels experienced by people in some of the most disadvantaged populations. Almost half of the surveyed Olympians said they had not seen a dentist in the past year, while nearly 9 percent said they had not been to a dentist once in their life.

"Oral health is important for well-being and successful elite sporting performance. It is amazing that many professional athletes -- people who dedicate a huge amount of time and energy to honing their physical abilities -- do not have sufficient support for their oral health needs, even though this negatively impacts on their training and performance," said Ian Needleman of the dental school at University College London.

"Oral health assessment should be part of every athlete's routine medical care," he said. "If we are going to help them optimize their level of performance we need to concentrate on oral health promotion and disease prevention strategies to facilitate the health and well-being of all our elite athletes."

Needleman's research is published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.