ABSTRACT
The purpose of this work is to definitively insert Dentistry in the context of high performance sports, with the main goal of establishing a common language with Sports Medicine. We consider that the clinical practices applied to high performance athletes should obey appropriate rules and moments, taking into account the context of the demands on the top athletes, i.e., the physiological wastage and the adaptive process to over-effort, and all its consequences. Dentistry inside the sports clubs would promote the oral and systemic health of athletes, controlling oral lesions integrated with other medical departments, water balance, dietary control, overtraining, and the intake of energy and isotonic drinks. When educational actions are inserted since childhood in sports practices, we will certainly have fewer oral problems with more preventive than curative needs. We suggest for the basic categories, for athletes in training, the inclusion of a pediatric dentist in sports clubs, as a health professional who plays an important role.
Keywords:
dentistry; sports; focal infection; oral health; athletes; periodontics