Custom Made Mouthpieces for Teenagers in Sports

Do your teenagers spend more time on the soccer field than they do on homework? Do you have kids who are into baseball? Or is your teenager planning to go to college on a football scholarship?

If your kids play sports, it’s important to not just protect their bodies and heads, but also their teeth. Dental and orofacial injuries are some of the most common injuries in activities such as baseball, football, soccer, lacrosse, hockey, and other contact sports. Custom-made mouthpieces for teenage athletes sports help protect their teeth and reduce the risk of these injuries.

Why teenagers need to wear mouth guards

In many sports, parents and coaches enlist a wide array of protective gear to keep teenagers safe while playing. There are shin guards, helmets, knee pads, face masks, and more. The athletic mouthguard is often forgotten, however, as a key piece of protection. About 1 to 2 in every 10 sports-related injuries in youth happen in the maxillofacial area, according to the Nationwide Children’s Hospital.

All children in any contact sport or activity should be wearing mouth guards for protection, but that need becomes even more important as your kids grow up and lose their baby teeth. As teenagers, any teeth lost due to a sports injury won’t be growing back. That’s why dental protection is so key. A custom-made mouthpiece will protect against tooth loss, chipped teeth, broken teeth, jaw fractures, cuts in the mouth, bone damage, and root damage. According to the National Youth Sports Foundation for Safety, athletes are 60 times more likely to sustain tooth damage when not wearing a protective mouth guard.

Benefits of custom-made mouthpieces

It can be hard to convince a teenager to wear a mouth guard. Now try getting them to wear one that doesn’t fit right, is uncomfortable, and limits their ability to breathe and talk while playing. That’s what happens with premade, off-the-shelf mouth guards. They’re cheaper than custom-made mouthpieces, but they also are difficult to wear while playing and won’t provide as much protection.

Custom-made athletic mouth guards are far superior to off-the-shelf models in a number of ways. They are molded specifically to the teenager’s mouth, so they fit properly. That means the mouthpiece won’t inhibit breathing or speech, is comfortable to wear, and will hold up over time. They also provide the best protection for your teenager’s teeth — so you can sit back and enjoy cheering them on without worry about their smile.

Learn more about custom mouth guards; call Comfort Dental Group! 408-249-8888