Assist. Prof. Dr. Juthamard SURAPONGCHAI PT, Ph.D.
Lecturer, Faculty of Physical Therapy
Mahidol University
Thailand
Assist Prof. Dr. Juthamard Surapongchai is a lecturer at the Faculty of Physical Therapy, Mahidol University, Thailand. Juthamard earned her bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Physical therapy and received her Ph.D. in Exercise Science from Mahidol University. She was awarded the Royal Golden Jubilee (RGJ) Ph.D. Scholarship from the Thailand Research Fund. The funding from RGJ in 2017 allows Dr. Surapongchai to be a research fellow at the National University of Singapore. As a physical therapist and exercise physiologist, her research interests are physical activity and wellness, exercise physiology, as well as heat stress, and fluid replacement. Previous research projects in terms of physical activity study included the survey and assessment of musculoskeletal disorders and physical activity levels in the office workers of a private company and the crew of an airline company.
The Association between Oral Health and Physical Fitness
Oral health problems may affect various health issues as well as physical activity and quality of life. Poor oral health not only induces local inflammation but also activates a systemic inflammatory response. On the other hand, there are the study reveals that pro-inflammatory biomarker concentrations were lower in individuals who engaged in more frequent and intense physical activities than those who engaged in less frequent and intense physical activities. Furthermore, previous studies suggest that there was a negative impact of poor oral health on physical fitness. For instance, individuals with poor oral conditions were likely to have lower physical strength and performance than those with good oral conditions. On the contrary, the severity of periodontal disease might affect the function of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Therefore, both oral health and physical activity or physical fitness had a bidirectional relationship.