At a recent youth basketball game I was cheering for my cousin’s team. Watching with enthusiasm I cheered as a teammate stole the ball. The little boy ran like the wind. Being 11 years old and running proves to be difficult sometimes. Under the basket the boy tripped and hit the ground face first. His front tooth ejected out of his mouth and onto the floor. My heart immediately sank! I was concerned for the boy and an instant later I was terrified for all the boys because not one of them was wearing a mouth guard!
Sports injuries can be traumatic. Every sport has precautions against injury. Though many NBA players do not wear mouth guards I am sure you will notice the players often rebounding do wear them. NBA players display accurate body control and are able to avoid horrific injuries even with their acrobatic moves. Younger adults and children do not have this control and often lose their footing, balance or control for a variety of reasons. Young athletes are easily capable of facing oral injury in full contact sports such as football and karate.
Wearing a mouth guard reduces the chance of injuries to the oro-facial area. Teeth, gums, lips, tongue and jaws are all better protected with the right mouth guard. WebMD reports “Mouth guards may also help you avoid chipped or broken teeth, nerve damage to a tooth or even tooth loss.” Your teeth are an extension of your bones. Your adult teeth are permanent and irreplaceable. During the course of life, situations may occur causing a tooth to chip, break, and be lost. To experience such a loss at an early age is unwarranted and easily avoidable.
For parents, sports retail stores have a variety of affordable to expensive mouth guards. Also, many dentists could custom make a mouth guard for your child. The only mouth guard that most dentists do not recommend is the stock mouth guards that come as one size fits all. Make sure that at minimum it is a boil and bite mouth guard so that you may have a better fit. Do not think that football and karate are the only threats. Many dentists recommend mouth guards in basketball, lacrosse, and field hockey.
Hootan Shahidi has a Masters degree in public health and is the office manager for C2 Dentistry. For more information call 661-702-0940 or visit www.c2dental.com .