Hobart Dentist Dr. Dirk Jacobsen from the Dental Pod knows that many people, including athletes can tend to breathe heavily through their mouth during exercise.
Mouth breathing can reduce the flow of saliva and dry out your mouth allowing bacteria to grow and thrive and then what many people do is consume sugary energy drinks that contain really bad corrosive ingredients and you have a recipe for dental caries.
Dirk knows that aside from turning your mouth into a breeding ground for caries producing bacteria, heavy mouth breathing also has repercussions for your overall health and fitness.
People often don’t realize that the most optimal way to breath is through your nose.
Mouth and nose breathing differ dramatically in terms of the depth of your breath and how the air is prepared and used by the body.
Nasal breathing has a number of physiological advantages over mouth breathing, one being the production of nitric oxide or NO for short. “NO” is a potent bronchodilator and vasodilator and helps to lower your blood pressure while increasing your lungs oxygen absorbing capacity.
The added bonus about nitric oxide is that it also kills bacteria, viruses and germs and that’s good for your teeth.
Nose breathing helps prevent the creation of an environment in your mouth that could promote caries and dental erosion.
Dr. Dirk Jacobsen is a fan of the Buteko Breathing, a method devised by a Russian physician back in the 1950s. Buteko teaches people to breath correctly through their noses and many people from athletes to asthma suffers’ have used the method with great success.
Many people go to great lengths to stay fit, especially athletes but even the minor mistakes can trip you up and have detrimental repercussions.
Drinking sugary, corrosive sports drinks heightens your risk of dental caries and erosion and is not good for your overall health.
Drinking pure water is best or if you need to replace lost electrolytes then coconut water can be good.
Then there’s the issue of breathing correctly during exertion. Ideally, you should be exercising only to the extent that you can continue breathing through your nose the vast majority of the time.
And if this means backing off on intensity, then that’s what you need to do, realizing that it’s only temporary until your body begins to adjust to your slightly increased CO2 levels.
With practice, nose breathing during exercise can help improve your health and fitness – and it can help you maintain better oral health too.
To book your next appointment with Hobart Dentist Dr. Dirk Jacobsen then call us at the Dental Pod on 03 6234 5114