Often times during football games, you’ll see the quarterback calling out a play at the line of scrimmage to let his teammates know when the ball will get snapped. 

After a few quips, the quarterback will put in a mouthguard before screaming, “Ready. Set. HUT HUT!” and the play begins.

You love to see the mouthguard if you’re a pediatric dentist!

At Adaven Children’s Dentistry & Orthodontics, we see patients all the time suffering from dental issues caused by sports injury. These injuries often can be prevented by a mouthguard. 

Whether you decorate your mouthguard to look like scary teeth, or have a basic white one that you buy from a sporting goods store, this dental safeguard can be one of the most important pieces of protective equipment a child wears, no matter what sport.

Here are some reasons why mouthguards are so important. 

Highly recommended by American Dental Association (ADA)

Mouthguard use has been shown to reduce the risk of sport-related dental injuries, according to the ADA. 

Not only does a mouthguard help prevent a chipped tooth, loss of tooth or other trauma, it also protects the soft tissue in the cheek and tongue. 

It’s common to see mouthguards for contact sports such as basketball, hockey, football, soccer, boxing, and wrestling, but also mid- to low-contact sports such as baseball, softball and gymnastics.

A study of more than 70,000 college basketball players in 2002 found the rate of dental injuries was five times lower among players wearing custom-fitted mouthguards than players who did not use mouthguards. Some studies also associate mouthguards with protection against concussions.

Pick the right mouthguard

The type of mouthguard you choose can depend on the age of the child and the sport. In many cases, a standard inexpensive mouthguard from a sporting goods store is sufficient to protect a child from dental injury. Other options that offer more protection are the “boil and bite” where the mouthguard molds to the child’s teeth. 

While these options are inexpensive and fairly easy to do, there are cases where the mouthpiece moves around and isn’t as effective.

The staff at Adaven can do custom mouthguards that are more expensive than the over-the-counter version, but offer the best protection and fit. 

In general, for older kids we’ll recommend our custom mouth guards but for younger kids the store-bought ones can work just fine. 

We’d love to help

Call us at 702-492-1955 if you would like more information about which mouthguard will work for your little athlete. While every kid is different, the goal is always the same: Give every child a great smile and experience when visiting Adaven Children’s Dentistry and Orthodontics, and in this case it’s making sure your child has the best protection possible when playing sports.