London: Professional footballers in UK have worryingly poor teeth that could be marring their performance on the pitch, say dentists in a surprising finding.

Nearly four out of 10 had cavities, the study on players at eight clubs in England and Wales showed. The dentists, from the International Centre for Evidence-Based Oral Health at University College London, examined 187 players' sets of teeth. They found 53 per cent had dental erosion, 45 per cent were bothered by the state of their teeth and seven per cent said it affected their ability to train or play.