Having grown up in Texas, I love the summer.  It’s a time to be outdoors, to play and have a good time at any number of different activities.  One thing my family and I absolutely love to do is go to the pool; as do most children I know.  The pool is great, but some common sense precautions should be taken to protect our teeth while having fun.  During the summer, swimming pool accidents are one of the major causes of dental trauma emergencies at the office.  Swimming underwater and quickly coming to the surface causes some children to hit the hard ledge, fracturing or loosening one or more teeth.  Also, even though we have been told hundreds of times not to do it, running on slippery, slick cement and ceramic pool surfaces sends many children headfirst into the ground.  Unfortunately, their front teeth often break the fall resulting in disaster.  Diving into shallow water not only is dangerous if someone hits their head, hitting the bottom can push a tooth up resulting in a fracture of segments of bone as well as the teeth.  As I mentioned, all of these take a little common sense to avoid, but kids will be kids and I still see summer accidents occurring quite often. 

Something many people who love to swim don’t think about is what water in the pool can do to the teeth.  People who spend a lot of time in the pool have some other things to think about other than avoiding contact with the side and bottom.  Competitive swimmers or those who swim a lot for exercise may be at risk for developing yellowish-brown or dark-brown stains on their teeth.  Athlete swimmers, who often swim laps more than six hours a week, expose their teeth to large amounts of chemically-treated water.  Pool water contains chemical additives like antimicrobials, which gives the water a higher pH than saliva, causing salivary proteins to break down quickly and form organic deposits on swimmer's teeth.  The result is swimmer's calculus - hard, brown tartar deposits that appear predominantly on the front teeth.  It's a common cosmetic condition among swimmers.  It isn’t a major concern for a person’s oral health as long as the tartar is removed, but because of the cosmetic effects someone most likely won’t be winning any big, beautiful smile contests with it present on their teeth!  Avid swimmers who notice the stains should talk to their dentist and perhaps increase their dental visits for oral hygiene appointments to three or four times a year (or at least more often during the swimming season).

Swimming pools are a great place for exercise and play, but be careful not to let an accident put a damper on your summer fun.  Following the rules, using common sense and remembering dental first aid steps can help save your teeth the next time you get the opportunity to dive in and cool off.  I hope each of you has an incredible summer of fun.