Sports are something vital for both kids and adults to enjoy, and it allows them to be healthy and happy. The problem with sports, however, is that while they’re fun, there is a risk for breaking something.  Chipping and breaking a tooth can increase your dental bills by a lot, but one way to prevent this is a mouthguard. We’ll go over why here. 

Why are they important? 

Why should you wear a mouthguard? While you might wear a helmet to protect the head against head trauma, a mouthguard is great to prevent any further injuries to the mouth and the face.

When they’re made of a soft plastic, or even a laminate, this is something that prevents injuries that happen when you have something hit your mouth. They also protect the gums, the cheeks, and also your jaw.

So why do they wear these? Well, regardless of the age, the gender, or the level of skill, everyone’s at risk of getting a n injury to their mouth. While this is scary, a mouthguard can help prevent this from further getting worse. It actually reduces the prevalence of the trauma that happens with athletes during contact sports.

A lot of people will benefit from the protection that a mouth guard offers, especially if you’re in a high contact sport. In fact, over 41% of people who play sports wear this.

Now, you might wonder how it protects, and we’ll go over that here. 

Using mouthguard for Sports 

While mouthguards can’t prevent elbows from hitting you when you’re in the middle of a game. Those things happen. But what it can do is prevent the injuries from getting worse over time. They reduce the impact through spreading it out, and also reduces the damage to both individual teeth, and the mouth as a whole. 

The way that they’re made also ensures that there is some protection of the shock of the force. 

During sports, you’re bound to get injured. In fact, over a third of all the injuries that happen during sports occur near the mouth and the face.  The good thing about this though, is that while it’s hard to fully prevent injuries, you can mitigate the effects of this.

Mouthguards are in fact far cheaper than any other protective elements that are used. In fact, they’re so cheap you can get them at the drugstore for less than 20 bucks.  For just 20 dollars, you can prevent thousands in dental treatments from injuries.

The problem with mouthguards is that so few sports require them. While you have to wear one for high contact sports like football, those that are not as high contact like baseball  and basketball might not require it.  a lot of players wear them when they play, because if you get hit by an elbow, it could knock out the tooth if you’re not careful. 

Mouthguard Types 

You’ve got a couple of different mouthguard types out there, and it’s important to consider all of these.

A good thing to keep in mind is that the better the mouthguard fits, the better the protection you will be getting.

If you’re strapped for cash, you can get stock, as they’re cheap, but they don’t fit comfortably or have protection 

There is also boil and bite, which is where you boil the guard, bite it, and then leave an impression. These are middle-level types. 

Finally, you’ve got custom made, which are the most expensive, but protect the best.

Regardless, try to get your child a mouthguard, especially if sports are their jam, but injuries are not.