The Effects of Chronic Exercise on Oral Immunity and Health

Background: Prevailing evidence suggests that strenuous, long-duration exercise can negatively impact the immune system, including a reduction in salivary IgA levels, especially in competitive athletes. Whether the reduced IgA levels are a function of chronic exercise per se or poor oral health is unknown. Few studies have simultaneously measured salivary IgA levels and oral health in competitive athletes. Given the interplay between salivary IgA and oral health, we tested the hypothesis that Division 1 college athletes would exhibit both decreased salivary IgA levels and poorer oral health compared to controls. Methods: 16 West Virginia University male soccer players (S) and 17 age-matched student comparisons (C) completed a dental health questionnaire and a 3-day self-reported food log to assess eating habits in particular areas of decay-causing foods. A dental exam (DMFS) and radiographic horizontal bitewings that measured interproximal decay of incipient lesions, decay reaching the dentin, and recurrent decay, were also conducted. Salivary IgA samples were evaluated at rest using ELISA assay. Results: S consumed significantly more grains (S: 10±3 vs C: 7±4 servings/day; p=0.02) and refined grains (S: 9±3 vs C:6±4 servings/day; p=0.015) in their diet compared with C. In addition, S showed more evidence of radiographic (S: 1.8 vs C: 0.2; radiographic mean number of cavities; p<0.01) and total decay (S: 6.5 vs C: 2.8; total mean number of cavities; p=0.062) compared with C. Salivary IgA values were not different between groups (S: 42.3 vs C: 42.85 mg/dl; p=0.9). Conclusion: These data suggest that athletes may have reduced oral health due (at least in part) to greater consumption of cavity-causing foods. Oral immunity (as determined by resting salivary IgA levels) was not reduced in the athletes. Future investigations should examine salivary IgA over many days, as well as post-exercise, to better characterize the temporal response of IgA. Inclusion of additional immunological and oral health variables may also be beneficial. West Virginia University, Division of Exercise Physiology This abstract was presented at the American Physiology Summit 2025 and is only available in HTML format. There is no downloadable file or PDF version. The Physiology editorial board was not involved in the peer review process.