Sports are an important, healthy activity for your children. Athletics can help your kids form friendships and stay mentally and physically strong. Unfortunately, it also leads to injuries from time to time. A mouthguard prevents injuries while not impeding speech.
At New Dimension Dentistry, Dr. Doris Giraldo has been serving the New York metro area for over 30 years. Highly skilled in caring cosmetic dentistry, Dr. Giraldo also offers family and general dentistry. Every patient that enters our office receives exceptional personalized treatment and advice for optimal oral health.
The injuries that can occur while playing sports are diverse. Your child could experience chipped edges, half or completely broken crowns, or even a total loss of one or more front teeth with injuries to the soft tissue or the jawbone. Aesthetics aren’t the only reason to consider an athletic mouthguard. Children can lose functional activity of their mouth or jaw, and dental reconstruction is expensive.
In your daily life, you naturally protect yourself and your family from injuries of all kinds. You buckle up when driving a car or wear a helmet on a motorcycle or skateboard. Depending on the physical activity, it’s likely you and your kids use safety gear or protective goggles. Hearing protection is mandatory when you’re participating in something loud.
There are numerous regulations for protection against injuries in the workplace, traffic, and almost every other area of life. Only teeth, lips, tongue, the face, and the jawbone are mostly unprotected, except in professional sports.
Several scientific studies show that up to 40% of all tooth, mouth, and jaw injuries can be traced back to sports accidents in the United States. The most common dental injuries experienced while playing sports include temporomandibular joint dislocation, fractured teeth, and teeth being totally knocked out of the mouth.
According to the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine, athletic mouthguards are the number one way to prevent dental injuries.
With more than 30 million American children involved in sports activities every year, it’s no surprise that so many dental injuries occur. In the event of an injury, the cost of treatment can quickly be far more than what effective dental protection would cost, not to mention the permanent damage.
Sports health researchers indicate that five million teeth are knocked out during athletic play every year. One knocked out tooth can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $20,000 over your child’s lifetime. That’s why preventive action is necessary.
Wearing a customized mouthguard is an effective way to prevent or reduce the severity of sports injuries to your teeth, mouth, jaw, and face area. After a short period of acclimating, a well-fitting mouthguard is comfortable to wear, can help your mouth absorb strong bumps and blows, and prevents major damage. Neither breathing nor speaking is significantly impaired by a good sports mouthguard.
Exercise is healthy, and playing sports is important. Protect your children’s teeth and jaws from injuries with an adapted mouthguard. If a tooth should still be lost, you can find out more about affordable dental implants here.
Call Dr. Giraldo and her team of specialists at 212-634-2852 to make an appointment, or use our convenient online booking tool.
