{"id":1435,"date":"2023-07-06T05:32:35","date_gmt":"2023-07-06T05:32:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/your-teeth-underwater\/"},"modified":"2023-07-06T05:32:35","modified_gmt":"2023-07-06T05:32:35","slug":"your-teeth-underwater","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/dental-care-blog\/your-teeth-underwater\/","title":{"rendered":"Your Teeth Underwater"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-1436\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2023\/07\/underwater-teeth-2023_543.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"543\" height=\"543\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2023\/07\/underwater-teeth-2023_543.jpg 543w, https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2023\/07\/underwater-teeth-2023_543-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/16\/2023\/07\/underwater-teeth-2023_543-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 543px) 100vw, 543px\" \/><br \/>\n<b>ANYONE WHO REGULARLY<\/b> swims might have noticed that your teeth are more sensitive after climbing out of the pool. That\u2019s not just your imagination. Doing a lot of swimming actually can take a toll on our teeth if we aren\u2019t careful.<\/p>\n<h3>Pool Chlorine Can Cause \u201cSwimmer\u2019s Calculus\u201d<\/h3>\n<p>To most people, the word \u201ccalculus\u201d calls forth scary flashbacks from high school math class, but in this context, it refers to a dental health condition. <strong>Prolonged exposure to the acidic chlorine ions in pool water can make a swimmer\u2019s teeth develop yellow or brown stains<\/strong>, which we call swimmer\u2019s calculus. Chlorine is excellent for keeping a public pool sanitary for everyone swimming in it, but if it isn\u2019t monitored carefully, the water\u2019s pH levels can become more acidic.<\/p>\n<p>Our teeth are very vulnerable to erosion from acid, so even mildly acidic pool water can make it more likely that we will develop these kinds of stains. <strong>You might be able to minimize this by keeping your mouth closed in the water and drinking plenty of water<\/strong> to rinse any pool water off of your teeth. Regular dental appointments are also important.<\/p>\n<h3>The Dental Woes of Scuba Divers<\/h3>\n<p>If you prefer scuba diving over swimming at the pool, you will face a different set of dental health risks, including barodontalgia or \u201ctooth squeeze.\u201d If you\u2019ve ever felt pressure building up in your ears when you dive to the bottom of the deep end, you\u2019ve gotten a taste of what can happen inside of individual teeth \u2014 particularly those with cavities that haven\u2019t been treated yet or have been treated ineffectively.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The pressure of all that water can build so much that it can actually fracture a tooth.<\/strong> For this reason, we strongly encourage divers to begin their diving season with a visit to the dentist so that they can get ahead of any potential problems.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8R6TblGN4Ao?rel=0\" width=\"543\" height=\"305\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h3>The All-Size-Fits-None Scuba Mouthpiece<\/h3>\n<p>Many scuba divers struggle with the supposedly one-size-fits-all mouthpieces that don\u2019t really fit anyone very well. Most divers don\u2019t go into the water often enough to feel like the cost of a custom-fitted mouthpiece is worth it. As dentists, we would argue that it\u2019s worth it for anyone diving multiple times a year, because <strong>a custom-fitted mouthpiece won\u2019t cause the problems the generic one can<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Generally, divers must clench down on the mouthpiece to keep it from falling out while diving, which can put a high level of strain on the jaws. It could even cause TMD (temporomandibular joint disorder).<\/p>\n<h3>Do You Still Have Questions About Teeth and Water Activities?<\/h3>\n<p>If we haven\u2019t answered all of your questions about how to look after your dental health while being an avid fan of water activities, just ask! A less obvious danger to be aware of as well is the tripping hazard of slippery areas around pools; a fall could easily cause an injury to your mouth. Take the right precautions for your teeth and enjoy all the water you want to this year!<\/p>\n<h4>We wish our patients a fantastic summer!<\/h4>\n<h6>Top image used under <span style=\"color: #2a7abd;\"><a style=\"color: #2a7abd;\" href=\"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/share-your-work\/public-domain\/cc0\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">CC0 Public Domain license<\/a><\/span>. Image cropped and modified from original.<\/h6>\n<h6><span style=\"color: #d9d9d9;\">The content on this blog is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of qualified health providers with questions you may have regarding medical conditions.<\/span><\/h6>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><b>ANYONE WHO REGULARLY<\/b> swims might have noticed that your teeth are more sensitive after climbing&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":1436,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[176,273,280,274,279,275],"tags":[],"yst_prominent_words":[90,72,83,1160,101,282,950,100,37,584,585,586,588,1161,89,79,86,46,85,1162],"class_list":["post-1435","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blog","category-dental-posts","category-endo","category-general-dental","category-ortho","category-pediatric","category-176","category-273","category-280","category-274","category-279","category-275","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1435"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1435"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1435\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1436"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1435"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1435"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1435"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mydentalpracticeblog.com\/hudsonhighlandsdentistry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=1435"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}