Sports can be fun and have a profoundly beneficial impact on your overall health. But do you need to wear a mouthguard while playing sports? In this article, we discuss the benefits of mouthguards for both amateur sports lovers and professional athletes.

Do You Need to Wear a Mouthguard While Playing Sports?

A mouthguard is a dental appliance typically made of ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA) or other thermoplastic materials. It usually covers both the upper and lower arches of your teeth. The purpose of the mouthguard is to create a protective barrier for your teeth, gums, and jawbones and to absorb the force in the event of a facial impact. The main benefits of the mouthguard include:

A mouthguard protects you from facial bone fractures
A mouthguard protects your teeth from being broken, chipped, cracked, or knocked out
A mouthguard lowers the risk of tooth root damage and blood vessel and soft tissue damage

Regardless of whether you are a professional athlete or play sports for fun, wearing a mouthguard during games, practice, and competition can benefit your oral health and prevent expensive and time-consuming treatments in the future.

Most sports activities, especially extreme and contact sports, can result in falling or getting hit in the face. As a consequence, facial bone fractures are a common occurrence among athletes. Also, facial and oral traumas often lead to tooth root damage and blood vessel damage. Both types of injuries can result in tooth loss. These traumas can be especially inconvenient for those who need to train for competition, as the injury can put them out of commission for weeks.

A mouthguard is specially designed to absorb the force from an impact to the face, thus preventing jawbone fractures. Additionally, a mouthguard creates a protective barrier for the teeth, preventing them from being broken, knocked out, cracked, or chipped. Thus, your mouthguard can eliminate the need for costly and complicated procedures, such as veneers or implants, in the future.

How to Choose a Mouthguard

There are two main types of mouthguards you can choose from, depending on your budget and personal preferences:

Over-the-counter Mouthguards

Over-the-counter mouthguards are premade, meaning that they can be only minimally customizable, if at all. Boil-and-bite mouthguards can be adjusted to the shape of your jaw and teeth to some degree. Those worn straight out of the box, however, can not be adjusted in any way.

Premade over-the-counter mouthguards may not be the most comfortable solution, as they are designed for a general mouth and bite shape and may not accommodate your specific needs and oral anatomy. As a result, even though they will still perform their protective function, this protection will likely not be optimal.

Another disadvantage of over-the-counter mouthguards is that they can cause jaw stiffness or rub against the soft tissue in your mouth, leading to sores because they are not fitted perfectly to your mouth.

That being said, wearing an over-the-counter mouthguard while playing sports is still preferable to having no protection at all. Over-the-counter mouthguards have the additional benefit of serving as a wallet-friendly option while you wait for a custom mouthguard to be manufactured.

Custom-made Mouthguards

A custom-made mouthguard is created using impressions of your teeth by a technician in a dental laboratory. Such a mouthguard fits in your mouth perfectly and provides an even distribution of force when an impact to the face occurs. Thus, a custom-made mouthguard provides more reliable protection than an over-the-counter option. Also, mouth sores, jaw stiffness, and other side effects of wearing a mouth guard are unlikely to occur when you opt for a custom-made option.

To get a custom-made mouthguard, you will need to visit your dentist at least twice: one visit is to take impressions of your teeth, and the second visit is when your mouthguard is ready. Typically, it takes between one to two weeks for your custom-made mouthguard to be prepared. The time will depend on how busy the dental lab and the technician are.

Get a Comfortable Custom-made Mouthguard at Samaritan Dental

Get a comfortable and reliable custom-made mouthguard that will protect your oral health while you enjoy your favorite sports activities. Schedule a consultation with an experienced dentist at Samaritan Dental today. We are looking forward to your visit to our dental office.

Common Tooth Injuries in Sports

In fact, about 40% of all dental injuries that occur in the United States occur as a result of sports. Whether you are playing contact sports or you suffered a nasty fall while running, it is important to get your dental injury assessed as quickly as you can. Here’s what you need to know about tooth injuries in sports before you visit your dental office in DTLA.

Fractured Tooth Roots

Some dental injuries can make their way to the roots of your teeth. Some cracks start at the surface of your teeth where you chew and stretch down to the unseen parts of your tooth. In other cases, you may be suffering from a fractured root alone.

It can be difficult or even impossible to see your fractured roots without a proper examination and x-ray procedure. These invisible damages can quickly contribute to an infection, giving you a bigger problem on your hands. Make sure to visit your dental professional ASAP when you suffer from a dental injury.

Cracked Teeth

Physical contact sports can be dangerous to your sensitive teeth. Without wearing protective gear like a mouthguard, you put your teeth at risk of being permanently damaged.

Any physical blow or injury to the face can result in a cracked tooth. While cracked teeth are the most common tooth injury, treating them as quickly as possible is essential to prevent permanent damage or infection.

Symptoms of Cracked Teeth

Not all cracks are visible. You may not realize you are dealing with cracked teeth until you start to show certain symptoms. Be on the lookout for:

Pain in the mouth when eating and drinking

Sensitivity to cold and hot foods

Loss of sensation on the outside of the tooth

Sharp pain when biting or chewing

Cracked teeth can be difficult to diagnose on your own. Consul with an emergency dental professional to help you repair cracks and other types of damage before your symptoms get worse.

Intrusions

A tooth intrusion is what happens when a hard hit knocks your tooth back down into the jawbone. When you are born, all of your teeth are fully grown but resting under your gums. As you grow older, your teeth “erupt,” meaning they come out and grow into the position they are now in. If you are faced with physical injury to the face, your teeth might be pushed so hard that they go back down below the gums.

This is known as a tooth intrusion, and it can be a very painful experience. This physical trauma can shorten or damage your roots and cause irreversible injury to your entire tooth.

Get the Best Protection for Your Teeth – Invest in a Mouthguard Today!

If you plan on continuing your sports activities, but you want to prevent any of the above injuries from happening, it is essential that you invest in a mouthguard. These devices can be fitted to the shape of your teeth to provide a rubber buffer between your mouth and the outside world.

Studies show that mouthguards can make your teeth 60 times safer during sports than if you aren’t wearing anything. When you are hit in the face with a ball or someone’s foot, you no longer run the risk of suffering irreversible damage to your teeth.

Contact us today to learn about our individualized mouth and sports guards that can help you stay fit and active without risking too much damage. Learn more about your oral health options at Samaritan Dental Arts today!