Regardless of the profession you are in, dental and mouth injuries are all too common. These injuries can affect the front teeth, as well as soft tissues, tongue, lips, or even inner cheeks. These injuries can be extremely painful, costly, and in worse case scenarios, permanent! Athletes are prime candidates; they have a 33 to 56 percent chance of obtaining an orofacial injury during their athletic career. Meaning, sooner or later, you are more than likely to end up being a victim of such an injury if you do not take extra precautions!
This can be achieved by wearing protective mouth gear! This will save you time, pain, money, and most importantly, prevent permeant damage. It is quite common for dental injuries to occur in sports. Dentists predict that around 13% to 39% of dental injuries happen while playing sports, and 80 percent of the time, they cause injuries to at least one of the front teeth. Taking this into account, we have listed the top 10 tips to help you avoid dental injuries.
- Mouth guards: Make sure to wear mouth guards while taking part in sports or athletic activities. Wearing mouth guards is a great way to avoid injuries to your teeth. To make sure that your mouth guard does its job and better protects your teeth, have your dentist custom-fit your mouth guard.
- Helmets: Helmets are imperative when it comes to playing sports that are high impact or high speed, such as hockey, football, biking, and skating. Make sure your helmet fits correctly and is customized to the sport. This will allow for the best protection.
- Cage: A face cage allows for full protection and guarantees you will not need stiches or dental work.
- Visor/Shield: A visor/shield does not offer as much protection as a cage, but it is better than not wearing a barrier to your face at all.
- Make sure that all of your protective gear fits perfectly and is comfortable for you.
- Go to a dentist or hospital as soon as you incur a dental injury. Consider it an emergency, as you would a serious bodily injury.
- Try not to touch the injured area! It may cause the injury to get worse and make it more difficult for the dentist to repair or recover the injured part of your mouth.
- In case of excessive bleeding, make sure you only use sterile gauze to avoid infection.
- Take precautions to avoid complications and recover as quickly as possible.
- Most importantly have fun but be safe! Prevention is the best option.
If you still happen to incur an orofacial injury, get to your dentist as soon as possible to help decrease the chances of permanent damage and maximize efficient recovery. At Devoted Family Dental, we provide emergency dental service and will help address your situation ASAP.