Call us today!: 830-625-1515

Can Swimming in a Pool Harm Teeth?

June 30, 2023

Filed under: Uncategorized — tntadmin @ 9:56 pm
An elderly couple swimming in a pool

Given the recent heat, you’ve likely been swimming. The activity can certainly cool you off from these record highs. The next time you take a dip, though, exercise more caution. Swimming in a pool can hurt your teeth if you aren’t careful. That said, reducing this oral risk is possible with the right practices. Your New Braunfels dentist will even tell you about them. So, here’s a summary of chlorine in pools, how it affects teeth, and ways to protect your smile from it.

<!–more–>

Context: Pools Contain Chlorine

Among other things, pool water typically contains chlorine. This chemical plays a vital role in modern swimming areas.

Put simply, chlorine protects swimmers from waterborne illnesses. It kills disease-causing germs before they can enter your body. As a result, you’re kept safe from conditions like diarrhea, skin rashes, coughing, and more.

Chlorine’s inclusion in the water supply has greatly helped society. Before it was introduced, drinking water caused diseases that afflicted thousands yearly.

How Does Chlorine Affect Your Teeth?

Despite its upsides, chlorinated pool water isn’t always helpful. It can greatly harm your teeth in some cases.

You see, pools with low pH levels hurt your enamel. The water they contain is so acidic that they wear down your top tooth layers. For that reason, swimming in them can cause severe tooth decay. This latter condition, also called “swimmer’s calculus,” can stain teeth yellow.

In light of these facts, you shouldn’t allow your pool’s pH balance to dip too low. The CDC recommends the levels of treated water be between 7.2 and 7.8. 

How to Protect Teeth from Pool Water

Of course, you can take steps to make pool water safer for teeth. Consider those listed below:

  • Note the linings, railings, and ladders in public pools. Overly-acidic water will eat away at these objects. If they show signs of erosion, therefore, the surrounding pool water will erode teeth.
  • Buy some pH strips at your recreational supply store. These would let you test pool water before your swim. In particular, dip them in the water and see if they show a pH between 7.2 and 7.8.

Swim in a backyard pool instead of a public one. Unlike the latter, the former would let you control the water’s pH balance. You could thus assess its acidity once a week and even have a specialist examine it.

If you don’t take precautions, swimming in a pool can hurt your teeth. Therefore, remember the tips above so your swim goes easy on your pearly whites.

About the Practice

Comal Dental is based in New Braunfels, TX. Led by Drs. Aaron Hang and Sarah Hansen, our practice seeks to give each patient top-quality dental care. To that end, we offer preventive, cosmetic, and restorative services, as well as emergency dentistry procedures. Our team is also a certified provider of ClearCorrect dental aligners. For more information or to book a visit, you can reach us on our website or by phone at (830)-625-1515.

No Comments

No comments yet.

RSS feed for comments on this post.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.


   Dr. Aaron Haag



Dr. Aaron Haag and his caring, dedicated team offer comprehensive dental care in a unique and relaxing setting. We strive to make your experience in our office as comfortable and productive as possible.

View Bio

Dental services for clean, healthy teeth and gums


We believe in offering a wide selection of dental treatments to fix your problem teeth, and to maintain healthy, strong teeth and gums for the long run. From professional, advanced teeth whitening, to restorative dental services like dental implants, we have the dental services you need all under one roof.

Services offered include

  • Cleaning and Prevention
  • Fillings
  • Crowns
  • Veneers
  • Implants
  • Bridges
  • Dentures
  • Root Canals
  • Sedation Dentistry
  • Tooth Whitening
  • Clear Braces
  • Snoring Appliances
  • TMJ therapy
  • Oral Surgery
  • Emergency Visits

Experience Excellent, Personalized Dental Care at Comal Dental


The dental team of Comal Dental are dedicated to professional dental care. You can look forward to compassionate patient care within a relaxing office atmosphere, as we also offer sedation dentistry.

Our comfortable office offers the very best in dental technique and technology – expressly delivered with your total well being in mind. We work as a coordinated team to bring you the best in oral health care.

For your convenience in addition to normal business hours we are open some evenings by appointment only. We also accept most insurance plans, as well as all major credit cards.


We look forward to meeting you and to helping you achieve optimal oral health.


Hours and Location


Monday thru Friday:
8 am - 3 pm
Evenings & Weekends:
By Appointment

2660 Common Street
Suite 102
New Braunfels, TX 78130
P: (830)625-1515