Are you a fan of contact sports like wrestling, football, or boxing? If so, it’s essential that you protect your teeth and gums in the process. Around 5 million teeth are dislodged due to contact sports injuries every year, whether it’s a knocked-out tooth, serious soft tissue injury, or loose restoration – that’s why wearing a mouthguard is so important! To learn more about which sports require participants to wear a mouthguard and how a mouthguard protects your smile, keep reading.
What is Considered a Contact Sport?
As the name implies, a contact sport is any sporting activity that requires participants to come into bodily contact with one another. The following is a list of contact (as well as a few non-contact) sports where you should wear a mouthguard:
How a Mouthguard Can Protect Your Smile
If your head is in the game, the last thing you want to be worrying about is whether or not playing hard can result in a lost or broken tooth. Having a mouthguard is essential to preventing dental injuries. Dentists recommend that mouthguards be worn by not only competitive athletes but also those who engage in recreational sports in which impact and collision are likely to occur.
Mouthguards should be worn during all practices and competitions to ensure your smile is protected in case of impact. Contact sports can have a significant effect on your oral health and, if you don’t take measures to preserve your smile, you could lose teeth, cause damage to the soft tissue in your mouth, or worse, cause jaw injuries.
Getting Ahead of the Injury
A mouthguard will provide a cushion to absorb the impact of any blow you might receive to your face during contact sports, protecting your teeth from becoming dislodged, cracked, chipped, or loosened. While minor dental damage might not seem like a dental emergency, if left untreated or continually unprotected, you could have cause for concern later down the line.
Saving You Money
When you wear a mouthguard, you’re not only protecting your teeth but also your wallet. Any dental restorations you might have will be at risk if you engage in contact sports without a mouthguard, and they could hurt your mouth and require expensive replacements or repairs. Compared to what you might have to pay for in treatments, a mouthguard is an inexpensive device that can provide long-term savings in minimizing and preventing injury.
You can’t know whether or not you will sustain a serious injury while playing sports, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. Protecting your mouth, head, and neck will potentially save you thousands of dollars on complex treatments in the future.
About the Author
Dr. Dina H. Cocco works with patients in the Ann Arbor area to get each and every client their dream smile. She specializes in preventing tooth and gum problems as well as repairing damaged or missing teeth, offering high-quality, custom-fit mouthguards and nightguards for your protection. If you want to learn more about what mouthguard options Dr. Cocco offers, you can contact her at her website or by phone at (734) 668-8636.