Periodontal Health, Nutrition and Anthropometry in Professional Footballers: A Preliminary Study

Abstract

Poor oral health in elite sport is a pressing issue, however little is known about the periodontal status of professional footballers. The aim of this study was to examine the prevalence of periodontitis in a group of professional footballers and its association with nutritional parameters and self-report non-traumatic injuries. Additionally, we assessed its association with anthropometric, dietary inflammatory load and self-reported muscular and/or articular injuries. Twenty-two professional footballers were evaluated at the beginning of the 2020–2021 season via full-mouth periodontal inspection, anthropometric measurements and the application of the dietary inflammatory index through a food intake measurement of 24 h dietary recall on two different days. Self-reporting non-traumatic muscular and articular injuries for the past 6 months were recorded from each athlete. Then we compared clinical measurements according to the periodontal status and we correlated age, periodontal and nutritional parameters. Overall, the prevalence of periodontitis was 40.9% and peri-implantitis was also observed. No significant differences were found regarding age or nutritional parameters according to the periodontal status. More non-traumatic muscular events in the past 6 months were found in the periodontitis group (55.6% vs. 38.4%), although the difference was non-significant. Both clinical attachment loss, periodontal pocket depth and the periodontal epithelial surface area revealed a significant moderate correlation with the percentage of fat mass, muscle mass, muscle mass index and total adipose folds. This group of professional footballers showed an alarming prevalence of periodontitis. Further studies shall examine whether periodontitis and periodontal treatment impact the performance of this group of athletes.

Associations of Blood and Performance Parameters with Signs of Periodontal Inflammation in Young Elite Athletes—An Explorative Study

“…Moderately elevated periodontal pockets (PSI score 3: none above 5.5 mm) were assessed. This low severity is in line with a previous study on periodontitis in footballers that reported overall mild periodontitis and a similar prevalence of periodontitis [ 5 ]. Even though the extent of systemic changes depends on the severity of periodontitis [ 28 ], increased CRP values have also been stated due to experimental gingivitis caused by cessation of oral hygiene [ 33 ].…”

“…The prevalence of both gingivitis and periodontitis can be high [ 1 ] and differs significantly from non-elite controls [ 2 , 3 , 4 ]. For instance, among footballers, a periodontitis prevalence of 41% was reported [ 5 ].…”

Orofacial conditions and oral health behavior of young athletes: A comparison of amateur and competitive sports

“…Nevertheless, the data report a significant treatment need to manage periodontal health. A detailed periodontal examination in footballers (mean age: 28 years) reported a similar prevalence of periodontitis (41%), with the diagnosis of a moderate or severe stage in only two individuals (9%) 19 …”

“…However, as previous studies have reported, athletes commonly have oral health problems: 13 About 46% have dental caries 14 with a higher prevalence than controls 15,16 . Gingival inflammation is very common with 58% to 85% 2–4,15,17,18 and even periodontitis is reported in 5% to 41% 3,4,17–19 . Erosion affects nearly every second athlete 20 …”

“…15,16 Gingival inflammation is very common with 58% to 85% [2][3][4]15,17,18 and even periodontitis is reported in 5% to 41%. 3,4,[17][18][19] Erosion affects nearly every second athlete. 20 Moreover, between 3% and 18% of athletes declared that oral health affected their training or performance.…”