Sports can provide many health and social benefits to your life. We highly recommend our patients find and eagerly engage in the sport they are drawn to. We also recognize that along with the benefits, injury from sports can occur. In fact, mouth-related injuries are the most frequently recorded injury that occurs in youth and adult sports, both team and individual. We want to help you play with success, that’s why we encourage the use of a customized sports guard. At Ford Dental Group, we can advise the proper wear and use of mouthguards to protect your teeth while you play.
Most Common Dental Injuries In Sports
Mouth injuries can be painful, expensive, and unfortunately common. Some of the most common dental injuries we see include:
- Broken Teeth: Those front teeth may improve the look of our smile, but their front and center location makes them highly vulnerable to breakage. Falls, balls to the face, and collisions occur in most sports. Having front teeth chipped or broken in half is a common consequence.
- Knocked Out Teeth: One step worse than broken teeth, knocked out or avulsed teeth, also occur in sports. Be sure to read up on what to do before this happens, as time is of the essence when a tooth comes out.
- Tooth Intrusion: The opposite of being knocked out, an intrusion is a tooth being shoved into the gums and bone. A tooth intrusion is more common with baby teeth when children’s bones are still softer.
- Fractured Tooth Root: A fractured root may not be immediately apparent, but can result in an infection at the root site.
Protecting Your Teeth With A Sportsguard
You can add a layer of protection to your teeth by wearing a mouthguard or sports guard. They are made of a silicone material that both protects your teeth and spreads an impact across your teeth, decreasing the brunt to any one tooth.
There are both store-bought varieties and customized varieties of mouthguards. Store-bought can include a one size fits all version and a boil-and-bite version. The sports guards we create are customized to fit your athlete’s mouth. We recommend having it made for one significant reason because we want the patient to actually wear it. Customized sportsguards are made to fit the patient. They won’t be bulky or uncomfortable because it was made with you in mind.
Our mouthguards are created using silicone material. It will provide some firmness, but be pliable. In addition to protecting teeth, some studies have found that wearing a mouthguard while playing sports can decrease the severity of a concussion as it takes some of the impacts.
Caring For Your Sportsguard
Caring for your sportsguard is simple but does require some thought. You simply rinse the device before and after use. Additionally, you will want to be aware of where you leave it. It shouldn’t be left in cars or where temperatures can get high.
If you or a loved one is in need of a sportsguard, call Ford Dental Group at (714) 409-6161 to schedule an appointment today.
