Protecting Your Teeth with a Mouth Guard

By Yanni Family Orthodontics

Whether you have braces or not, you always want to protect your teeth – especially while playing sports.

Mouth guards, also called mouth protectors, help cushion a blow to the face, minimizing the risk of broken teeth and injuries to your lips, tongue, face, or jaw.

Without a mouth guard, you might suffer chipped or broken teeth, fractured crowns or bridgework, lip and cheek injuries, root damage to the teeth, fractured jaws, and concussions.

Mouth guards typically cover the upper teeth and are a great way to protect the soft tissues of your tongue, lips, and cheek lining. Knowing how to prevent injuries like these is especially important if you participate in organized sports or other recreational activities.

A properly fitted mouth guard may be especially important for people who wear braces or have fixed bridge work. A blow to the face could damage the brackets or other fixed orthodontic appliances. A mouth guard also provides a barrier between the braces and your cheek or lips, limiting the risk of soft tissue injuries.

A mouth guard is an essential piece of athletic gear that should be part of your standard equipment from an early age. In fact, studies show that athletes are 60 times more likely to suffer harm to the teeth if they’re not wearing a mouth guard.

According to the American Dental Association, one third of all dental injuries are sports related. The use of a mouth guard can prevent more than 200,000 oral injuries to the mouth each year.

While collision and contact sports, such as boxing, are higher-risk sports for the mouth, you can experience a dental injury in non-contact activities too, such as gymnastics, weight lifting, and skating.

Mouth guards are mandatory in collision sports such as football, hockey, and boxing where the risk of injury is likely. Children and adults involved in incidental contact sports like basketball, baseball, softball, wrestling, soccer, and volleyball may consider wearing a mouth guard to prevent injuries to the mouth.

A study of high school athletes found that 75 percent of injuries occurred when mouth guards were not worn and 40 percent occurred during baseball and basketball. Nine percent of all athletes suffered some type of oral injury while another 3 percent reported a loss of consciousness. Fifty-six percent of all concussions were suffered when mouth guards were not worn. Trauma related to sports is more prevalent than previously reported.

Child or adult, a mouth guard is essential for all athletes.

Stop in and let us help you pick the right mouth guard for your needs!

We are located at 180 Westfield St. in West Springfield and 642 Tolland Stage Rd. in Tolland.