When it comes to playing contact sports, wearing your mouthguard is vital. Not only can it protect your teeth from damage, but it may even be able to help you prevent getting a concussion. As dentists in Waconia, we know how hard it can be to get your kids and teens to willingly wear a mouthguard. However, as long as you explain how important the mouthguard is to their oral safety, we hope that they will be a little more enthusiastic about plopping that plastic in their mouth before they hit the field.

Mouthguards Protect Your Teeth from Fracturing

Your teeth are bones, which means that they can break and crack! The primary function of a standard mouthguard is to protect the teeth from breaking. When you don’t protect your teeth, it can lead to:

• Crown fractures – These fractures occur on the visible part of the tooth. Your dentist can apply a filling on the tooth to replace the area that was fractured.
• Tooth fractures – When tooth fractures are severe, they can expose the dental pulp and cause extreme pain. The dentist can perform a root canal or pulpotomy, as well as a filling, to replace the parts of the tooth that need to be redone.
• Root fractures – The root of the tooth can fracture, and that usually means that the tooth will need to be removed. However, if the root fractures by the end of the tooth, it’s more likely that it can be saved.

Mouthguards Help Prevent Your Teeth From Displacing

When a ball collides with your teeth, it’s extremely likely that at least one tooth will fracture, if not more. People who are a little more lucky will have their teeth displaced; although, this still isn’t an enjoyable outcome. This means it will make it easy for your tooth to move around after you get hit. Wearing a mouthguard, though, allows the force of the ball to be distributed over all of your teeth while the mouthguard cushions them. While this isn’t going to feel pleasant, it will be much less likely for your teeth to sustain any permanent injury.

Mouthguards Help Prevent Teeth Being Knocked Out

Teeth can get knocked out with just one hard hit to the face. Wearing a mouthguard can help prevent this from happening! However, if you should have a tooth knocked out, come to the dentist immediately – even if it’s a baby tooth. When baby teeth are knocked out, it can cause trauma to the developing tooth underneath and may require a spacer.

Mouthguards Protect Soft Tissue

We don’t often think about the damage that can be done to our lips or tongue when we get hit in the face! Wearing a mouthguard can help prevent your teeth from cutting through the soft tissue of your mouth. These kinds of cuts can lead to stitches and other painful remedies.

Mouthguards May Protect Against a Concussion

While you can’t entirely prevent a concussion, a mouthguard can help you if you were to receive a blow to the jaw. The padding between your jaw and the rest of your skull may, in some cases, be just enough to lessen the amount of force exerted on the skull near the brain.

Mouthguards Can Prevent Jaw Fractures

Taking a blow to the head never feels good, especially when your jaw is involved. Your lower jaw connects with the teeth above, and there isn’t anywhere else for them to go. However, if you are wearing a mouthguard, it’s more likely that the flexible plastic will absorb some of the pressure and prevent your jaw from breaking. Jaw fractures usually mean surgery will follow, which is not fun for anyone!

Wear Your Mouthguard

In case you or your kids were feeling impartial to mouthguards before, we hope you feel more passionate about them now! The best way to take care of a mouth injury is to prevent it from happening in the first place. However, if you or a loved one forget to use their mouthguard and need dental treatment, then we are the place to go! Contact Kruckman Family Dentistry today for a dentist Waconia, St. Bonifacius, Mayer, and more can trust. We look forward to helping you!