In football, players wear helmets to protect against brain injuries. In soccer, players wear chin guards for protection against painful kicks and collisions. At Brockport Smiles, we understand the importance of wearing protective equipment when playing with sports—especially when it comes to your mouth.

Dr. Thaney and the Brockport Smiles team are very excited to have had the opportunity to donate mouthguards to 38 athletes of the Brockport High School girls' and boys' varsity lacrosse teams. In fact, we custom fit and made each player's mouthguard appliance!

In addition to donating the mouthguards, we also did our part to spread awareness of the benefits of mouthguards. Whether you are playing an organized competitive sport, or involved in a more casual sport, injuries happen but being proactive is key. The importance of wearing a mouthguard when playing sports cannot be overstated.

What's so important about wearing a mouthguard?

First and foremost, mouthguards help protect and cushion your teeth against collisions, helping you avoid losing or damaging your teeth. The American Dental Association has conducted multiple studies of mouthguards, and the results have consistently shown that mouthguards really do offer significant protection from sports-related injuries to the teeth and soft tissues. One study even showed that an athlete is 60 times more likely to sustain damage to their teeth by not wearing a mouthguard. But did you know there are other benefits to wearing a mouthguard than protecting your teeth?

In addition to protecting your teeth from injury, mouthguards can help prevent soft tissue lacerations in your mouth, bone fractures and jaw dislocations. Additionally, many medical and dental experts agree that mouth guards can potentially help prevent or minimize concussions and neck injuries.

Lacrosse is a rough sport. Even with a protective lacrosse helmet on, a hard collision can still leave the athlete with a bone and teeth crunching injury. Mouthguards play a big part in preventing or minimizing damage to your mouth. Hopefully with their new, custom made Brockport Smiles mouthguards, the boys and girls lacrosse players of Brockport High School can play with confidence and feel safe doing so.

At Brockport Smiles, we understand that dental emergencies happen and that sometimes you need to be seen right away. That's why we make sure to set up our schedule each day to allow us the flexibility to accommodate unplanned emergency care. Need emergency dental care?  Give us a call for your emergency dental needs or learn more about a custom-made mouthguard. 585.416.4056

By Brockport Smiles

March 20, 2018