What are the Benefits of a Sports Guard?
If your child plays recreational sports, investing in a high-quality sports guard is something you should think about.
A broken or knocked out (avulsed) tooth may give your child ‘street cred’ as a serious hockey player, but it’s not good for their oral health! And it’s not just high-impact sports you need to worry about. An accidental elbow to the face during ballet class could knock out a tooth, as can a stray baseball at a little league game. The lips and tongue can also be damaged by accidents on the playing field, often being bitten or cut by a child’s own teeth.
We see a lot of sports-related damage to young mouths here at Glenora Family Dental, so we advise all our parents to consider a customized sports guard. These dental appliances promote maximum protection to your children’s teeth, tongue, lips, and gums.
The Limitations of Store-Bought Sports Guards
There are essentially three different types of sports guards you can buy: one-size, boil-and-bite, and customized. The first type, one-size sports guards, are found on the shelves of sports supply stores and are the least expensive. These provide protection for the teeth and gums, but don’t provide an ideal fit. All children have a varying size or shape to their teeth, so a one-size sports guard may not fit properly into every child’s mouth. If the sports guard feels uncomfortable, he or she may take it out too often or “forget” to wear it altogether, increasing the risk of injury.
Boil-and-bite sports guards are also found at sports supply stores, as well as pharmacies. They offer a better fit than the one-size variety, but they have their limitations. They are usually more comfortable for your child to wear, but they may offer less protection due to the imprecise nature of the customization process.
Before being used, these sports guards are softened in hot water, at home, so the child can bite down to form a dental impression in the softened plastic. The problem is that their effectiveness rests solely on how well that child bites down at the time. If he or she bit too softly, the guard may feel too big and be uncomfortable. If he or she bit down too hard, there may not be enough cushioning between the teeth; a blow to the jaw may still result in the teeth cracking together.
Sports Guards at Glenora Family Dental
The only way to guarantee a sports guard will fit your child properly is to have one custom made from a professionally administered dental impression. This ensures that the guard will fit properly around both arches of teeth, and be comfortable in your child’s mouth.
With an increase in companies offering sports guards online today, you may find some that provide customized mouth guards by sending you a dental impression kit that you perform at home and send back to them. This may sound like a great alternative, but it comes with the same risks as boil-and-bite guards. Can you be sure you did the dental impression properly? What if it doesn’t fit right when they send you the final product?
At Glenora Family Dental, we know how to make sure an impression creates an accurate model of your child’s mouth. The dental impressions we do in our office are sent to an off-site laboratory, which creates the sports guard to your child’s individual specifications. Furthermore, upon your second visit, Dr. VandenBrink will diligently check the fit before you take it home to ensure you get the best quality product, for maximum mouth protection.