The Dental Emergencies Most Common For Athletes

By Author: William Buck
Total Articles: 54
Comment this article

Naturally, many sports tend to involve accidents. Whether baseball, football, basketball, or even soccer, these activities may lead to various bodily injuries. Given such facts, athletes are often at heavy risk for dental emergencies. One wrong move could greatly harm your teeth and gums. Still, sports enthusiasts can take steps to avoid urgent oral injuries. My team and I will even explain how. So, here are the common dental emergencies among athletes and ways to protect against them.

Common Dental Emergencies for Athletes
Athletics can easily cause oral injuries if you’re not careful. In fact, it often causes some dental emergencies more than others. These rather common ones are:

Chipped & Cracked Teeth
Especially in contact sports, athletes take sudden blows to the face or head. Those impacts may result in chipped or cracked teeth. From there, the condition can trigger enamel loss, tooth pain, dental sensitivity, and worse.

Should you suffer a chipped or cracked tooth, try to place the broken part in some milk. Doing so preserves the fragment until a dentist can provide treatment. Otherwise, ...
... you could get restorations like fillings or crowns.

Fractured Roots
Besides harming a tooth’s crown, sports can also damage a pearly white’s roots. This problem occurs when a crack or chip extends below the gumline. Left untreated, it’ll cause severe pain, infections, and tooth loss.

A dentist usually performs root canal therapy to treat fractured tooth roots. This option will prevent tooth infection and relieve any pain you’re feeling. If the root can’t be saved, though, you may need extraction.

Tooth Loss
Sometimes, an athlete’s injury knocks out an entire tooth. Such an accident is quite likely in full-contact sports. When faced, a tooth can fully dislodge from its socket in the jaw.

Should you suffer a knocked-out tooth, clean it with water and preserve it in milk. Your dentist may be able to resocket the pearly white if you see them in time. The alternatives are restorations like a dental bridge or implant.

How Can Athletes Prevent Dental Emergencies?
Aside from quitting athletics, there are a few ways to prevent sports-related dental emergencies. The typical methods include the following:

• Wear a Dentist-Approved Mouthguard – See your local dentist for a customized mouthguard. You’d protect yourself from cut lips, broken teeth, and other mouth damage by wearing the appliance.
• Wear a Helmet – Helmets can do more than prevent head injuries. In reality, those with faceguards can also stop impacts on your mouth. You’d thus keep your smile safe even as you play football or hockey.
While athletes often have dental emergencies, these incidents needn’t be inevitable. Just follow the above tips from your dental provider – you’ll get your sports fix without hurting your smile!