Smile, couch potatoes — because exercise rots your teeth

Mo Farah: his teeth gleam with telegenic whiteness but not all athletes are so lucky
Mo Farah: his teeth gleam with telegenic whiteness but not all athletes are so lucky
NIGEL RODDIS/GETTY IMAGES

In a world where nearly every human pursuit has been found to damage your health in some way, exercise has been given a free pass for its manifold benefits. Now research suggests that, for some, fitness may come at a price: tooth decay.

Dentists at Heidelberg University Hospital in Germany believe that the very act of exercising could ruin your smile. Their study indicates that the longer athletes train each week, the more likely they are to have tooth rot or fillings — and the further they run, the greater the danger.

While the teeth of Jessica Ennis-Hill and Mo Farah gleam with telegenic whiteness, not all of their peers are so lucky. In 2009 the International Olympic Committee discovered that a third of its