Living an active lifestyle is good for your physical and mental faculties. When it comes to your dental health, however, such a lifestyle might prove to be a risky venture. For instance, if you’re into ball sports such as basketball or baseball, or full-contact sports such as mixed martial arts and boxing, your teeth could be in danger of being chipped, cracked, broken, and dislodged by an errant basketball, punch, or kick to your mouth. To combat any unwanted dental damage you may experience from such sports, a Greenville, SC family dental practitioner such as Dr. Brian R. Derrick urges the use of mouth guards.
Mouth guards for sports
Mouth guards provide a number of advantages for anyone engaging in sports, especially the ones that put you at risk of being hit in the mouth or jaw. Mouth guards are usually custom-fitted and cover the upper teeth, but some variants cover both the upper and lower teeth. The devices act as barriers between the teeth and the gums, tongue, or lips. Some mouth guards are designed to work for people who are wearing braces.
Having a mouth guard that’s tailor-made for your mouth and teeth is crucial if you do not want to have your teeth knocked out when you’re engaging in such sports.
Mouth guards for bruxism
Mouth guards also protect your oral health by mitigating the damage caused by bruxism or night grinding. Dentists from practices like Falls Park Dentistry, who are well-versed with family dentistry in Greenville, SC, suggest that wearing a mouth guard before sleeping would help lessen the possibility of tooth fractures caused by the uncontrolled grinding of your teeth when you sleep. There are also day-time mouth guards called occlusal splints, which can be used to address jaw issues and stabilize a person’s bite before he or she undergoes a dental procedure.
When it comes to your oral health, it pays to use all the necessary protection, especially when engaging in sports or suffering from sleep apnea due to bruxism. Visiting your neighborhood dental office in Greenville, SC, like Falls Park Dentistry, for a consultation would be a good decision.
(Source: Mouth Guards: Types and Advantages, yourdentistryguide.com)