High carb fueling and your teeth

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My general takeaways

  • Yes, frequent high carb fueling is bad for your teeth
  • Race day - don’t worry about it
  • Daily training under an hour shouldn’t need high carb
  • Daily brushing, morning and night is most important

but I don’t think the the scenario of frequent high carb fueling was really addressed. how can I protect my teeth if I am fueling 2+ hour rides, 3+ times per week?

My current approach is to brush as soon as I finish the ride. There was a little discussion about how brushing too soon afterwards could be bad, but I would imagine that brushing is better than not brushing. @Ronan_Mc_Laughlin What’s the best practice?

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I was left wondering if some sort of mouthwash post ride might be a good idea, especially if the ride doesn’t finish near home and I have a drive to get back to tooth brushing facilities.

A bottle of mouthwash would be easy to add to my post ride bag and low effort to use, assuming this is a good idea?

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Hey folks. I got these answers from Jason:

Brushing after will clean the teeth for sure so therefore good but if the sugar has been converted to acid the the surface of tooth enamel could have been slightly softened / deminerslised and brushing with abrasive paste will abrade the soft enamel more quickly.
Gentle brushing good but there is a risk. If 5 hour high sugar race and high risk enamel softening best to do
Gentle brushing and cleansing with fluoride mouthwash to kick start remineralisation process. Or even just rub some toothpaste over tooth surfaces with finger after you have downed recovery shot of cherry juice / ketone / or water.
Rubbing a bit of toothpaste round the teeth with finger while driving back is prob quickest and easiest hack on the way home from race.

Definitely plenty of scope for bigger debate on it!

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That is what I do. I keep a travel size bottle of mouthwash in my bag that I use immediately post ride.

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Thanks, Ronan! (And Jason)

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My dentist’s husband cycles a lot and she advised him to use a “Tooth Mousse” product. This ‘seals’ the teeth and is normally prescribed as part of a whitening regime to avoid stains. You clean your teeth, some versions suggest drying them, then apply a small amount with your finger to all the enamel surfaces of your teeth. You then must not eat or drink for 30 minutes. Afterwards there should be greater protection to the teeth. She also advised drinking through a straw to avoid direct contact with the front teeth. Does Jason recommends/prescribe this sort of product?