Do your children play sports? How about ride bikes? Or go to pool? Yeah, we thought so! At Smile Hilliard, we strongly recommend athletic mouthguards for children who are active – especially those who play sports. As a dental office, we know what an important role they play in helping children to maintain their beautiful smiles.
What Is An Athletic Mouthguard?
An athletic mouthguard is a device that’s worn over the teeth to protect the mouth from injury. Consider it a critical component of your children’s athletic equipment, particularly if they’re engaged in sports with a high rate of injury like football, basketball, soccer, hockey, skateboarding, swimming, gymnastics, or biking.
Why Are Athletic Mouthguards Important?
Since the mid-1990s, the American Dental Association (ADA) has recommended the use of athletic mouthguards. Because sports-related injuries can result in cut lips and broken teeth, an athletic mouthguard offers children much-needed protection.
Furthermore, while contact sports like boxing present obvious dental risks, dental injuries are also common in non-contact sports like bike-riding or swimming.
Custom-Fitted Mouthguard Versus Over-The-Counter
Although you can buy a relatively inexpensive mouthguard at any sporting goods store, they simply aren’t the best available. Oftentimes, an OTC mouthguard offers a poor fit that can make talking and breathing difficult. When that happens, kids are far less likely to wear their mouthguard.
A custom-fitted mouthguard, on the other hand, is made by a dentist and designed to fit the mouth perfectly. For this reason, it’s more comfortable and offers superior protection to the OTC mouthguard you might find at your local store.
Where Can I Get A Custom Athletic Mouthguard?
At Smile Hilliard, we’re pleased to offer custom-fit mouthguards to our child patients FREE of charge. Dr. Sanyk is very passionate about protecting children’s teeth and is happy to provide this service for her child patients. After all, it’s our goal to keep people’s mouths their healthiest, and we take that responsibility seriously.
As a proud sponsor of the Hilliard Ohio Soccer Association (HOSA), we’ll have a table at the Hilliard Soccer Complex this summer and fall. Stop by and learn how you can get a free custom athletic mouthguard for your child, receive general information about oral health, and get other great tips for taking care of your kids’ teeth. We love being able to give back to the community in this way so please don’t be shy—stop by!
Alternatively, if you can’t wait until summer to see us, why not set up an appointment today? If your child does not already have a custom athletic mouthguard, now is the perfect time to schedule an appointment and get one before spring sports and activities begin!
