Assessment of Marathon and Ultramarathon Athletes’ Awareness of Their Dental Health Based on a Survey

INTRODUCTION: Developing aerobic potentials over long and ultra-long distances requires considerable physiological resources of a human organism. High physical loads intensified by emotional stress associated with the competition factor, is an integral part of such competitions as marathons and ultramarathons. Poor dental health of athletes can negatively affect training, performance and well-being both in everyday life, and in the period of training and competitions. In this regard, dental diseases can have a negative impact on the performance of track and field athletes.

AIM: To assess the awareness of marathon and ultramarathon athletes of their dental health on the basis of a survey and to elucidate factors in their sports activity having the greatest impact on the level of oral hygiene.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: Forty amateur athletes engaged in long distance running, were surveyed. The athletes had different level of training and had been engaged in long-distance running for more than a year. The survey was conducted using the ‘Program for assessing the dental status of marathon and ultramarathon athletes.’ This program includes a number of questions about awareness of a person of his oral health, cariogenic factors and the need for dental treatment, as well as about athletic achievements, the type of nutrition during the preparatory and competitive periods.

RESULTS: The greatest effect on the level of oral hygiene of athletes was found to be produced by the training volume per month. With training volume from 251 to 300 kilometers per month, the oral hygiene level was low in 42.9% of respondents. With this parameter values from 351 km to 400 kilometers per month the hygiene level was low in 100.0% of cases.

CONCLUSION: When assessing the awareness of marathon athletes of their own dental health, it was found that most athletes do not associate the level of oral hygiene with the quality of life and results in long-distance competitions. Anthropometric data, oral hygiene products and methods used by respondents at home did not have a statistically significant effect on the level of oral hygiene. The greatest negative effect on the level of oral hygiene of marathon athletes is produced by an increase in the training volume per month.