Is Exercise Bad for Your Teeth? | Hacker News Reader

Is Exercise Bad for Your Teeth?

well.blogs.nytimes.com

19 pointsDeinos11 comments

Nope.The last three paragraphs summarize: Small limited test, only _maybe_ if you train more than nine hours a week.

But interesting that the composition of your saliva changes when you're in an endurance situation. Why?

It is probably related to the lactic acid buildup during exercise.

…and general changes in water-availability: sweating, accelerated respiration-evaporation. And redirection of blood-flow. So I'd say hardly more surprising than the idea that saliva volume and composition might change while eating.

My uncle who is a dentist (also same name as me) told me YEARS ago that most of my cavities were caused by gatorade. Gatorade I was consuming while playing soccer would dry up in my mouth and cause bacteria to eat away at the enamel. I stopped drinking gatorade and other sports drinks, and haven't had a cavity since.

i bought gatorade once. And it is still perplexing to me how people can drink that and similar synthetic stuff which looks and feels like chemistry plant waste water. If not teeth, it would definitely hit your gastroenterological tract just like "Drano". The power of "magic potions" advertisement is astonishing - "Because electrolytes". Which reminds of the quote from the "Idiocracy" ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g5Q-yNNu-tM ) :

[cabinet has been debating putting water on the plants instead of Brawndo]

Pvt. Joe Bowers: What are these electrolytes? Do you even know?

Secretary of State: They're... what they use to make Brawndo!

Pvt. Joe Bowers: But why do they use them to make Brawndo?

Secretary of Defense: [raises hand after a pause] Because Brawndo's got electrolytes.

That was a great, and sadly under-watched movie.

I'm waiting for genetic engineering to arrive in order to fix teeth problem for once instead of caring about it. Some people have perfect teeth, I mean - let's just copy the good parts.

This and eyes - another offenders.

The interesting thing about eyesight is that the stereotype of the bookworm with glasses is actually true. Reading close-up does actually change the shape of your eyes, necessitating corrective lenses to fix this change.

Most stereotypes are actually true, most of the time.

Your comment doesn't make much sense. If you don't care about your teeth and ruin them now, how are the genes of people with perfect teeth going to help you? Those genes may make teeth more resilient to different types of stress, but won't recover already damaged teeth.

I won't even mention how unlikely such a procedure is or how the US dental lobby is trying to block all scientific/technological progress in the field by any legal, PR and other means.

That would be ideal. In the meantime, I’d take a dramatic decrease in the risks and expense of elective surgery. I would gladly sacrifice a year or two to get most of my body replaced if it meant my shelf life would be extended by significantly more than that.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com