Dentist Charleston

When you are preparing for sports practice or a game, you wouldn’t dream of going without your uniform. If you are playing a contact sport like football or hockey, you always have a helmet and pads on before going near the field or rink. However, if you aren’t using a sports mouth guard for your practices and matches, you are missing a vital piece of protective gear.

Each year, an estimated 13-39% of all dental injuries occur while playing sports. Since mouthguards were made a mandatory part of American football, about 200,000 injuries to the mouth and teeth have been prevented annually.

However, the dangers of tooth and mouth injury do not end with contact sports. Recent studies have found that today’s basketball players are far more likely to suffer injury to the face, mouth, and teeth than football players. For these sports, contact comes from the ball, ground, hoop, or other surface rather than other players, so mouthguards are not currently required by most schools and many teams.