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Swimming pools offer welcome relief in the sweltering summer months. But the positive aspects of R&R aside, you need to be careful which swimming pools you get into because researchers from the New York University College of Dentistry are warning that poorly maintained pools are bad for your teeth.

According to NYU College of Dentistry’s Dr. Leila Jahangiri, you are risking severe and rapid erosion of your dental enamel if you are swimming in an improperly maintained backyard swimming pool. Poor chlorination is the main culprit spoiling your summer fun in the pool.

“It is a difficult balance to maintain home pools properly,” says Dr. Jahangiri, a clinical associate professor and the Chair of NYUCD’s Department of Prosthodontics. “Proper pool chlorine and pH levels need to be monitored and maintained on a weekly basis.”

Of course you know that is not really happening in your own or your neighbor’s pool, don’t you? And this summer, in the middle of a bad economy, there is a reason for that. It is because professional pool maintenance services can cost thousands of dollars each season. And of course, a lot of home owners who are lucky to own a house with a swimming pool, and feeling luckier to still be living there are opting to maintain their pools themselves. But according to Dr. Jahangiri, this results in improper pH levels that are harmful to your teeth.

Dr. Jahangiri, together with her NYUCD colleagues, had come across the effects of this phenomenon first hand in a 52 year old male patient with extremely sensitive teeth and dark stains. According to the paper authored by her, Steven Pigliacelli and Dr. Ross Kerr, titled “Severe and Rapid Erosion of Dental Enamel from Swimming: A Clinical Report” (unpublished), they observed that the patient had suffered a rapid enamel loss over the five month period beginning May 2010. The team traced the enamel loss to the 90 minute swimming routine the patient had started earlier in that summer. The patient had never hired a professional pool maintenance service. So taking in to consideration the timing and in the absence of other causes they could identify, the team ruled that improper chlorination was responsible for the dental erosion.

Jahangiri further added that, “If the chemical levels are not properly maintained, pool water contact with teeth can cause serious enamel erosion.” This effect is possible when the pool water pH ranges between 2.7 and 7.

The impact of pool chlorination is not news to dental professionals. But the average pool users, and of course, back yard pool owners, need to be aware of the dangers of improper chlorination.

Even if you are swimming in a public pool, you might want to check out how the regulations are and whether they are being adhered to in this time of budget and staff cuts.

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 2 responses to “Is Your Swimming Ruining Your Teeth?”

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    Dan Burch wrote:
  

  wow, i never though that swimming could actually ruin anybody’s teeth. thank you for sharing this.

  27 August, 2011 @ 23:19

   
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    Dental Exams Ft. Lauderdale wrote:
  

  I agree with you that the swimming ruins the teeth. There is another fact about the swimming in a pool which is not maintained properly. The swimmer’s get their teeth stained from yellow to brown color due to the chemical in the pool mixed with the saliva. They are known as “swimmer’s calculus”. This is why it is good to maintain the pool properly…

  31 October, 2011 @ 22:46

   

  

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