Tips for Preventing Oral and Mouth Injuries

njuries to both the mouth and the teeth are very common, with about 60% of dental injuries happening to the front teeth, and can damage the cheeks, lips, and the tongue. Injuries to baby teeth can happen when learning to walk, and it can damage the permanent teeth as well. Sports injuries are the main reason for tooth and mouth injuries, with up to 40% of these dental injuries happening.

So how can you prevent this? Well, there are a few things that you can wear in order to prevent the injuries from happening.

First, is a mouth guard. If you’re playing sport,s this is one of the best ways to prevent that from hurting your teeth and mouth. Any contact sport should have something like this in place as a must.

Face cages are another one.  Baseball catchers and hockey goalies have this, and it protects trauma to the face. After all, do you feel safe with just a mouthguard when a 90-mph fastball is hitting you? Chances are, that’s not the case.

Helmets are another.  You should use a helmet for anything that you’re participating in that does pose any risk, including cycling. 

Now, while it doesn’t protect the mouth and teeth, the head is protected in this case, and it can protect against brain concussions.

So, maybe you did wear this, but the thing that you may have to face now is you still had a tooth knocked out, or maybe you did end up forgetting your helmet and now you’ve got a knocked out front tooth.

The reality of it is that you can get it repaired, and the sooner you get to it the better. Those that have the highest chances of being saved are those that are seen by the dentist and are returned to the socket within an hour of being knocked out. If you do have a tooth tha’ts knocked out, rinse the debris from the root and put it back into the socket. If it’s not possible, hold it in the mouth while you got to the dentist. If nothing else, keep it in milk until you get there.

Now, if they can’t replace it, you do have another option: a dental implant, which is essentially an artificial tooth that is anchored into the jawbone, and you can get a porcelain crown put on top of there, and it aids in biting, chewing, and also for aesthetic reasons.

But of course, the name of the game is prevention.  Lots of times, you can never be too prepared, so making sure that you have the preventative items can make a world of a difference in your ability to handle mouth and tooth injuries.  If you have the means to prevent this, then make sure that you put it in. it’s better to not have to worry about rushing to a dentist, but instead having the protection that you need during sports and any activities too.