Let's All Take PhysEd: The Power of Exercise on Oral Health

We've talked a lot in the past about the importance of nutrition on oral health, and just a couple of weeks ago, we mentioned that getting enough sleep has a profound effect on your body's ability to keep its mouth healthy. Today, we're breaking out the third leg of the 'tripod' of general health: exercise.

According to studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the Journal of Dentistry, exercise and dental health are closely linked. One study divided up people into three groups: inactive, partially active, and extremely active. They discovered that the partially active people had 33% less periodontal disease than the inactive group, and the extremely active group had 52% less than the inactive group.

Another study showed that vitamin D, which is most commonly obtained from exposure to sunlight (which means being outside, which generally means being active), also helps suppress gum disease -- people with the highest levels of vitamin D had 20% less than people with the lowest amounts.

The reasons why this might be are somewhat complex, but they're thought to relate to the body's ability to process blood sugar. Science has proven that gum disease and blood sugar are closely related in ways we haven't discovered -- people who get gum disease also suffer from reduced ability to process blood sugar and people who lose the ability to control their blood sugar (due to pre-diabetes, hormonal imbalance, or other issues) also become more prone to gum disease.

Because getting exercise and getting vitamin D both help the body control its own blood sugar levels, they seem to, through that same undiscovered mechanism, do an excellent job of helping your body fight off periodontal disease.

So in short, get your kids into P.E., after-school sports, or whatever it takes to keep them moving! Along with a good diet and plenty of rest, it's an essential part of keeping up their oral (and their general) health.