Free Custom mouthguards in 2012!

At Raber Dental, we want to partner with  local schools and coaches to help prevent devastating injuries.  Coaches willing to protect athletes and  promote mouthguard wear during practice and games can contact Raber Dental on how to provide their team with comfortable, custom-made pressure-laminated athletic mouthguards FREE OF CHARGE in 2012.

A properly fitted mouthguard must be protective, comfortable, resilient, tear-resistant, odorless, tasteless, not bulky, cause minimal interference to speaking and breathing, and (possibly the most important criteria) have excellent retention, fit, and sufficient thickness in critical areas.

Mouthguards help cushion blows that might otherwise cause broken teeth and injuries to the lips, tongue, face or jaw. It’s believed that they may also reduce the severity and incidence of concussions.  New findings in sports dentistry show that even in noncontact sports, such as gymnastics, mouthguards will help.

Facts:

• Mouthguards should be worn at all times during competition; in practice as well as in games.
• Athletes have a 33-56% chance of an orofacial injury during an athletic career.
• More than 30% of  basketball injuries are orofacial. A mouthguard reduces that number to 2%.
• Among team sports, basketball and soccer have the most orofacial and dental  injuries.
• The stock mouthguard that is bought at sports stores, provides only a low level of protection, if any.
• The 2011 cost to replant a tooth and the follow-up dental treatment is about $5000.
• Victims of knocked-out teeth who do not have a tooth properly preserved or replanted may face lifetime dental costs of $15,000-$20,000 per tooth, hours in the dental chair, and the possible development of other dental problems such as periodontal disease.
• The American Dental Association recommends wearing custom mouthguards for the following sports practiced in Wayne County:  basketball, soccer, volleyball, field hockey, football, gymnastics, wrestling, lacrosse, martial arts, racquetball, shot putting, skateboarding, skiing, weightlifting.