Sports Injury/Dental Treatment

• Overview:
• Avulsion (Entire Tooth Knocked Out)
• Luxation (Tooth in socket, but wrong position)
• Fracture (Broken Tooth)
• What sporting activities require the protection of a mouthguard?

 Overview:

Three Common Athletic Dental Injuries are: Avulsion, Luxation, and Fracture of Teeth. The following is the guideline for treatment of sport injuries, as outlined by the Academy for Sports Dentistry.

 Avulsion (Entire Tooth Knocked Out)

1. Avoid additional trauma to tooth while handling. Do Not handle tooth by the root. Do Not brush or scrub tooth. Do Not sterilize tooth.
2. If debris is on tooth, gently rinse with water.
3. If possible, reimplant tooth and stabilize by biting down gently on the towel or handkerchief. Do only if athlete is alert and conscious.
4. If unable to reimplant:
1. Best - Place tooth in a physiologic transport medium (e.g. Hank's Balanced Saline Solution)
2. 2nd best - Place tooth in milk.
3. 3rd best - Wrap tooth in saline-soaked gauze.
4. 4th best - Place tooth under athlete's tongue. Do this ONLY if athlete is conscious and alert.
5. Time is very important. Reimplant within 30 minutes has the highest degree of success rate. Transport Immediately to Dentist.

Luxation (Tooth in socket, but wrong position)

Three Positions

1. Extruded Tooth - Upper tooth hangs downs and/or lower tooth raised up.
1. Reposition tooth in socket using firm finger pressure.
2. Stabilize tooth by gently biting on towel or handkerchief.
3. Transport Immediately to Dentist.
2. Lateral Displacement - Tooth pushed back or pulled forward. Try to reposition tooth using finger pressure.
1. Athlete may require local anesthetic to reposition tooth; if so, stabilize tooth by gently biting on towel or handkerchief.
2. Transport Immediately to Dentist.
3. Intruded Tooth - Tooth pushed into gum - looks short. Do nothing - avoid any repositioning of tooth.
1. Transport Immediately to Dentist.

Fracture (Broken Tooth)

1. If tooth is totally broken in half, save the broken portion and bring to the dental office as described under Avulsion, Item 4. Stabilize portion of tooth left in mouth by gently biting on towel or handkerchief to control bleeding.
2. Should extreme pain occur, limit contact with other teeth, air or tongue. Pulp nerve may be exposed, which is extremely painful to athlete.
3. Immediately Transport Patient and Tooth Fragments to Dentist.

For best transport of a knocked-out tooth/teeth use Save-A-Tooth tooth preserving system.
www.Save-A-Tooth.com or call 1-888-788-6684.

Sports mouthguards (also termed athletic mouthpieces, football protectors, or spelled "mouth guards" using two words) are plastic dental appliances which when worn can help to protect the hard and soft tissues of the mouth from damage caused by traumatic blows and collisions. The value of an athletic mouthguard simply cannot be overstated. It's been estimated that as many as one third of all injuries treated by dentists are sports related. It's also been estimated that during any single season an athlete participating in a contact sport runs about a 10% chance of experiencing some sort of orofacial injury (injury of the tissues or structures in or around the mouth).

What sporting activities require the protection of a mouthguard?

There are a number of sports where it should be painfully obvious to the participant that a mouth protector should be worn. Clearly boxing would be such a case, but there are other examples as well.

So clearly athletes participating in contact sports (sports where player to player contact is a regular and expected part of the sporting event) should protect their mouth with a guard. Football, boxing, ice hockey, lacrosse, field hockey, roller hockey, soccer, rugby, basketball, martial arts, water polo, and wrestling should all be considered sports where the use of a mouth protector is paramount.

Other sports, while not being true contact sports, can still provide ample potential for collisions with objects or other athletes. Participants in handball, racquetball, baseball, skateboarding, rollerblading, skiing, skydiving, squash, surfing, volleyball, gymnastics, acrobatics, tennis, and bicycling should all make a point of obtaining and wearing mouth protection.

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Dental Emergencies/Pain ***
Severe Tooth Pain/ Toothache
Dental Abscess/Gum Abscess
Tooth Abscess/Endodontic Treatment
Cracked Tooth/Endodontic Treatment
Fractured Tooth and Broken Teeth
Lost Dental Filling or Crown
Sensitive/Painful Teeth
Temporomandibular Joint (TMJ) Disorder (TMD)
Loose Teeth/Prevention-Causes and Treatment
Trouble With Your Dentures?
Anxious Patients
Using Sedation in Dentistry