As the winter sporting season approaches, a local dentist has renewed calls for local sports players to wear mouthguards during play to protect against potentially serious dental injuries.
President of the Australian Dental Association (ADA) Central Coast Division, Dr Thomas Tseng, said he has seen plenty of injuries caused by a lack of mouthguards.
“Lately we have seen a few incidents with kids who were not wearing guards and they were playing in traditionally non-contact sports like basketball or soccer,” Tseng said.
“Injuries can range from just breaking or cracking a tooth, to the tooth being knocked out completely.
“Some people, albeit a minority, end up with a fractured jaw … it’s not a common thing thankfully but accidents do happen.
“As a practice we try and promote mouthguards for all contact sports, and not just for during a game, but for training too.
“Fortunately, there are a number of sports organisations on the Coast who have a policy of ‘no guard, no play’ which is quite helpful for us.”
A custom-fitted mouthguard protects more than just teeth – it helps absorb and spread the impact of a blow to the face, preventing jaw fractures, facial lacerations, concussions and base of skull injuries.
Tseng said the take up is “pretty good” on the Coast with most dental practices offering the service.
“We promote custom made mouthguards pretty heavily in our practice… having a custom one is better than one you buy from the local sporting store because the custom-made guard sits better so the kids are more likely to wear it,” Tseng said.
“If it’s loose, you find that kids don’t wear it because its uncomfortable, they can’t talk, if you get tackled, it can come loose.
“They are more expensive but what you’re saving in the short term can be much more expensive in the long-term health-wise.”
It comes as the ADA NSW’s body urged local sports groups and associations to make mouthguards mandatory.
“Every year thousands of people are treated for dental injuries while playing sport,” ADA NSW President Dr Michael Jonas said.
“These can need time off school or work to recover from, be seriously painful and disfiguring or may involve expensive or even possibly a lifetime of treatment.
“ADA NSW urges all Central Coast sports clubs to register for our national branch’s No Mouthguard, No Play policy, make mouthguards mandatory and help best protect their players this forthcoming winter sports season.”
A mouthguard policy for sports clubs to download via the ADA national branch is available at ada.org.au and more information on obtaining the right mouthguard is available via teeth.org.au/sports-mouthguards
Maisy Rae