Sports Injury Prevention at Absolute Dental

As we saw another of our younger patients last week with a broken upper front tooth following a sporting injury, this weeks blog is about Making Sense of Mouthguards! Luckily, the child involved in this case wasn't badly injured and their treatment was covered by their Practice Membership insurance, but this is not always the case.

Many people, young and old, take part in regular exercise these days, this can be anything from school sports and after school clubs to cycling, running, swimming and horse riding. This can be a great time of excitement or trepidation and we often don't realise the potential for dental trauma linked to sport. Back in 2002 an American study revealed that in over 1000 athletes, 28.8% had suffered from dental trauma and in the study 52.4% knew about the need to use a mouthguard but only 15.9% actually used one!!!!!!

I was interested to know that  Hockey actually had the lowest risk of dental trauma but fortunately this can be attributed to the enforcement of mouth guard wear and the athletes heightened awareness of the risk of dental trauma. 

The highest numbers of incidences are commonly seen in the first and last 15 minutes of a game. This may be explained by the adrenaline rush at the start and also fatigue playing a part at the end of the game.

The most common traumas in football are dental fractures at 74% and avulsion, where the tooth is completely displaced out of its socket, at 59%. 

Types of mouthguards

1. Stock. These are commonly sold in sports shops and are the cheapest option and offer a very low level of protection. the difficulties in these are that they are bulky and have a poor accuracy of fit, leading to speech and breathing difficulties. 

2. Boil and Bite. These are the most commonly used. Yet again they do not provide the proper thickness/ comfort or protection of the posterior teeth. 

3. Custom fitted. These are produced from impressions taken in the dental surgery and are constructed exactly to the wearers specification in terms of dimensions, personalisation,  colour and style and most importantly provide the correct thickness and maximum protection of all the teeth. 

There are also several variations of mouthguards for specific purposes. Orthodontic mouthguards are designed to help protect not only the teeth but the inside of the mouth from brackets and sharp arch wires.  In certain sports such as martial arts and hockey and extra hard acrylic layer is incorporated for extra protection. 

The British Dental Association recommends that anyone engaged in contact sports should use a well made mouth guard to reduce the risk of injury to teeth, bone and lips. It will also reduce the risk of concussion. A custom made mouth guard designed by a dentist is preferable to those solid in sports shops and they will be more comfortable to wear and more likely to stay in place on impact. 

At Absolute we can help with your mouthguard or childrens mouthguard so you can stay safe in sport. 

Maureen