Ever wondered how it feels to get hit on your teeth?
A dental injury in sports is usually caused by a blow to your face or mouth that results in one or more teeth being damaged or knocked out resulting in various kinds of problems. It’s important to know that protecting your teeth is as important as protecting any other part in your body. Here as some tips as to what to do if you have a dental injury and how to try to prevent common ones.
Some sport which carry highest risks with dental injuries:
Basketball
Football
Hockey,
Martial arts
And Boxing
A few interesting but forewarning facts on Dental Injuries in sports: –
It is known that more than 5 million teeth are avulsed each year, most during sports activities which is a huge number and it can be reduced if precautions are taken.
According to the study, approximately TWENTY million children participate in various kinds of sports programs and another 80 million are involved in unsupervised recreational sports.
In addition to that, 15 million suffer dental injuries and 5 million teeth are lost annually in sports-related injuries which are both negligible and deadly injuries.
In football the rules on wearing mouth guards is not mandatory, hence only 7% of the participants wear them.
In baseball and softball, again only 7% wear mouth-guards.
Even spectators during sports events are known to have had dental injuries.
Recent studies show basketball had the highest injury rate with both male and female students due to hand or elbow contact or by collision with other players.
During an athletic season, athletes have a 1 in 10 chance of suffering a facial or dental injury. In fact, the lifetime risk of such an injury is estimated to be about 45% according to the National Youth Sports Foundation.
41 Dentistry plays a large role in treating oral injuries resulting from sporting activities.
An athlete has a 10% chance of receiving an orofacial injury every season of play. In addition, athletes have a 33-56% chance of receiving an orofacial injury during their playing career.
MOST COMMON ATHELTIC INJURIES THAT CAN OCCUR
AVULSION :-
Never a good sight to watch a grown up lose a tooth. Certainly one of the most dramatic sports related dental injuries is the complete avulsion of a tooth.
FRACTURES :-
Fractures are one of the most common and painful injury that could take place. Fractures of the facial bones present a complex problem which needs to handled with care.
SOFT TISSUE INJURIES:-
Soft tissue injuries occur frequently as face is the most exposed part of the body in athletic competition and injuries to the soft tissues of the face are frequent but not very serious.
TOOTH INTRUSION:-
These may look like it’s a very small injury but the pain is unimaginable. Tooth intrusion occurs when the tooth has been driven into the alveolar process due to an axially directed impact, hence forces the tooth to be pushed inside.
TOOTH EXTRUSION :-
The tooth is displaced partially out of the socket because of the sudden collision.
CROWN AND ROOT FRACTURES: –
Crown fractures are the most common injury to the permanent dentition and may present in several different ways. The simplest form is crown infraction.
