Sports and Oral Health: How To Protect Your Teeth When Playing

No parent likes to receive the call that their child was injured at school or at their sporting event. One of the most common injuries is to the teeth and mouth. The front teeth and soft tissues of the tongue, lips, and inner cheeks. No injury can be avoided entirely, but it can be prevented.

Protective Gear for Mouths and Teeth

The method of protection depends on the sport, so make sure that your child has the opportunity to play it safe. Mouthguards, helmets, and face cages are the gear that we must consider when talking about sports protection for the face and mouth.

Helmets

Most helmets protect the head, but not the mouth specifically. They should always be worn when batting, during football, hockey, cycling, and other sports that have concussion risk. Most helmets extend beyond the face and just might protect your teeth during a face plant.

Face Cages

Baseball catchers, hockey goalies, football players all should be playing with helmets that have face cages. This is the best protection against a nasty mouth injury.

Mouth Guards

Dr. Frank Sierra adds, “We saved the best for last, as they are inexpensive but can really provide some excellent protection. Not just for boxers, you have seen all your favorite players using mouth guards. Think basketball, football, hockey, wrestling, and basically any contact sport. The benefits of a custom sports mouthguard are more comfort and the proper fit. Your student-athlete will be more apt to wear their guard too. Other benefits are increases in strength and endurance and quicker reaction time.”

The Kids Smiles team hopes that all of our patients have fun and are safe while they play their favorite sports. Share this post with parents that might benefit from these tips and reminders of personal protective equipment for the teeth and mouth.

Did you know?

Our partner company, Blue Wave Orthodontics can produce a custom mouth guard for your child. Dr. Randy Feldman is a Fellow of the American Academy of Sports Dentistry and has fabricated custom mouth guards for the Buccaneers, Lightning, Rays and has been the Team Orthodontist for the University of South Florida Athletic program for over 25 years, at one time fabricating custom mouth guards for every active USF athlete that asked for one!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


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