Dentists are warning that energy bars used by sports-keen patients are causing tooth decay.

Some dental professionals are noting an increase in dental decay in unlikely patients, and they're finding energy bars could be the culprit.

That's because many of these products have dried fruit and stick in the mouth longer, giving bacteria more time to work on it.

Sales of energy bars are soaring and are a favourite choice of athletes but patients can take precautionary measures.

‘The more stick it is, the more caramel it has, the more chocolate it has, the more dried fruit it has, the more the potential is there for them to linger in your mouth, to get stuck in the little crevices in between your teeth,' says Dr Vidya Sankar, oral medicine clinic director for the UT Health Science Center Dental School.

Dr Sankar says rinsing the mouth with water after eating an energy bar or chewing sugarless gum to stimulate saliva.