Mouth Guards
Dental injuries can occur in nearly all sports, causing harm to your teeth and surrounding soft tissues.
A mouth guard is a necessary piece of athletic gear to help protect your smile, as well as your child’s smile.
Over half of sports players experience some type of mouth injury during their sporting careers. Broken or chipped teeth can be a result of these injuries. This damage may require a filling, a crown or even a root canal in order to save the tooth. In extreme cases, a tooth may even be lost due to injury. Wearing a custom fit mouth guard for protection may prevent these types of injuries.
Types of Mouth Guards
There are a few different kinds of sports mouth guards you might purchase for you or your child while playing sports.
Custom Fitted
Your Dental Health Associates dentist will make impressions of your teeth. These impressions allow for a model of your teeth to be made which is then used in the lab to fabricate your custom mouth guard. This process provides the best fit to protect your smile.
Store Bought
These guards can be found over the counter in many stores. They come as either pre-formed or guards that need to be boiled and inserted to adapt to the shape of your mouth. While effective in the short term, they generally do not withstand the test of time. They can lose their shape and fit over time and will need to be replaced on a frequent basis.
Mouth Guard FAQs
- Never chew on your mouth guard
- Keep your guard in the plastic container provided by your Dental Health Associates team when not in your mouth.
- Don’t leave your mouth guard laying out where children or pets might find it. They can easily be damaged by your pets and lost.
- Always brush and floss your teeth before inserting your mouth guard.
- After taking your mouth guard out, be sure to wash it off with lukewarm water and gentle soap.
- You may soak your guard in mouthwash and use a very soft bristled toothbrush to lightly brush off any debris if needed for added freshness and cleanliness.
- Never use extremely hot water for cleaning your guard or leave your mouth guard outside in extreme heat, as heat will distort the material and change the fit of the guard.
- To store, place the guard in the plastic box provided by your Dental Health Associates team.
If your mouth guard is lost, please contact your Dental Health Associates staff to discuss how a replacement guard can be made.
Insurance coverage varies greatly for each individual policy. To find out what percentage may be covered by your insurance plan, refer to the information provided to you when you enrolled, or call the 1-800 number on the back of your card to ask a representative. If you need help obtaining this information, a Dental Health Associates front desk staff member would be happy to help you. If you are a DHA patient, our financial coordinators will help you obtain an estimate of coverage if requested.
Patient Information
We encourage new patients to fill out a new patient form online prior to your first appointment. Be sure to select the appropriate location for your new patient forms, as once you complete them, they are sent electronically to the office you’ve chosen.
Insurance
Medical and dental insurance can be confusing. Our staff has experience with your questions and can help you get the most from your insurance.
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