{"id":1138,"date":"2020-02-26T12:36:59","date_gmt":"2020-02-26T12:36:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/?p=1138"},"modified":"2020-02-26T12:37:00","modified_gmt":"2020-02-26T12:37:00","slug":"wear-your-mouthguard-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wear-your-mouthguard-2\/","title":{"rendered":"WEAR YOUR MOUTHGUARD!!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Mouthguards are nothing new, but there are still far too many sports\nrelated injuries. Although most youth sport organizations have cracked down on\nmaking kids wear mouth protection, there are still injuries occurring. Taking\nthe appropriate protective measures while on the court, field, rink, or ring\ncan save mouths from serious injury and costly dental repairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Any sport that presents the chance of contact or collision with another\nperson, object, or surface can potentially cause injury to teeth, jaws, and\noral soft tissue. These sports include, but are not limited to, football,\nbasketball, soccer, hockey, boxing, and lacrosse. Individuals who participate\nin sports, such as biking, inline skating, or skateboarding are also at risk\nfor injury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teeth get in the way. Other than your nose, front teeth are \u201cout there\u201d\nand your lips only provide minimal protection. For example, a student I saw\nthis past spring was injured playing squash at a local private school. Squash\nis a non-contact sport, but the game is played in close proximity to another\nplayer with a swinging racquet. The student I treated had been hit in the mouth\nwith the other player\u2019s racquet. He required a root canal on one front tooth\nwith a crown. The other front tooth needed to be extracted and replaced with a\ndental implant. All of this could have been prevented or at least damage\nlessened with the use of a mouthguard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

For some reason, baseball is one of those sports where kids do not wear\nprotective mouthguards. No matter what age level, a player can misjudge a ball\nor a ball can take an unexpected bounce, causing serious injury. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In lacrosse, both boys and girls should always be wearing mouth\nprotection. That ball is extremely hard and heavy. Boys are better protected\nthan girls because they at least wear helmets; both should be wearing helmets,\nin my opinion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A custom mouthguard made by your dentist covers the upper teeth with a\nsoft, flexible material that prevents serious injuries such as broken teeth,\njaw fractures, cerebral hemorrhage, and neck injuries. It decreases the chance\nof the lower jaw jamming into the upper jaw or being pushed back into the\ntemporomandibular joint (TMJ). Mouthguards may reduce the severity and incidence\nof concussions as well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Custom mouthguards, made by a dentist, fit 100 times better than anything\nyou can buy in a store. This not only improves performance (making it easier to\nbreathe), but also makes it more likely the athlete will keep the mouthguard\nin. They may cost more than the boil\/bite generic ones, but they are better,\nand that is enough reason to consider them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you seek treatment immediately after the injury occurs, your dentist\noften can save knocked-out teeth and repair minor chips and cracks with\nappropriate dental materials. See your dentist for evaluation if your tooth\nchanges color, if you experience any pain, or if you notice any swelling in or\naround your mouth following trauma. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even if it isn\u2019t \u201ccool\u201d to wear a mouthguard in the sport you are\nplaying, I strongly recommend it. You only get one set of your own teeth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr. St. Clair maintains\na private dental practice in Rowley and Newburyport dedicated to health-centered\nfamily dentistry. If there are certain topics you would like to see written\nabout or questions you have please email them to him at jpstclair@stclairdmd.com<\/a>.\nYou can view all previously written columns at www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mouthguards are nothing new, but there are still far too many sports related injuries. Although most youth sport organizations have cracked down on making kids wear mouth protection, there are still injuries occurring. Taking the appropriate protective measures while on the court, field, rink, or ring can save mouths from serious injury and costly dental repairs. Any sport that presents the chance of contact or collision with another person, object, or surface can potentially cause […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1138","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1138"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1140,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1138\/revisions\/1140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jpeterstclairdentistry.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}