Did you know that the American Dental Association has designated April as National Facial Protection Month? The goal of the month is to raise awareness around the importance of facial protection when playing sports. Whether it’s an adult playing basketball or a child playing golf, having proper mouth protection is an important part of staying safe and avoiding painful problems.
Livestrong points out the benefits of kids playing sports:
- 65% of kids like spending the time with friends on athletic teams.
- Joining sports improves the overall health of children of all ages.
- Sports teach teamwork and cooperation, which are helpful skills when applied in the work world.
But Livestrong also points out that, no matter how careful we are, children can be injured in sporting activities. In fact, about three million kids are injured playing sports. Head injuries can also involve teeth; that’s why we recommend mouth guards for any sport.
Best Mouth Guards for Contact Sports
The Claims Journal reports that nationally, dentists say 13 to 39% of dental injuries occur when playing athletics. 80% of all dental injuries damage at least one of the front teeth, check, or tongue. Here’s a paragraph that will give any athlete (or their parent) a pause:
More than five million teeth are avulsed, displaced from their socket, each year, many during sports activities. This results in nearly $500 million spent on replacing these teeth every year. According to the CDC, sports-related dental injuries account for more than 600,000 emergency room visits each year.
With April as National Facial Protection Month, it’s time to look more closely at the mouth guards the members of your family are wearing. With the goal of preventing all mouth and facial injuries, your Las Vegas dentist is standing by to fit you and your family with a custom designed athletic mouth guard that can give you all the protection you need to keep your pearly whites where they belong.
We recommend the Under Armour Performance Mouthwear, which is not only custom-designed to fit your unique bite, it also helps prevent TMJ by reducing the amount of jaw clenching and teeth grinding that naturally occurs on the athletic field. We believe this mouth guard, while competitively priced, is simply a better option for athletes, providing superior protection – especially for contact sports.
The process of fitting your smile with an athletic mouthguard includes making an impression of your teeth. We send this impression to the manufacturers, who custom-builds your own unique mouthguard. This device actually pivots the face forward to reduce pressure on the jaw joint – which is how it helps reduce the pressure from TMJ that can cause long-term health problems.
Having a custom-fitted mouthguard is always better than using an over-the-counter solution. If the goal is to keep your teeth where they belong throughout the course of your life, a custom-designed mouthguard is always worth a trip to visit Dr. Hadley and his team.
Las Vegas Dentistry for Adolescent Athletes
While the ADA is doing a good thing by spending the month of April raising awareness of the importance of facial protection, your Las Vegas dentist remains focused on this issue 24/7.
Our office works every day to prevent facial and oral injuries from sporting activities. Contact our office, we offer options for sports activities from yoga and pilates, to football, hockey, basketball, and soccer.