General Dentistry : Davie : Horse Riding : Mouth Guard

Horse Riders at Risk for Serious Dental Injuries

General dentistry in Davie can often be presented with challenges not found in other South Florida communities. Davie is a western themed town of 90,000 that holds over 200 professional rodeos a year, has over a dozen stables and offers up riding trails scattered across the city.

In short, the people of Davie love their horses.

At our Weston dentist office we see our fair share of sports related dental issues like cracked teeth, broken teeth, gum injuries and loose teeth usually all the result of playing a contact sport without a mouth guard. It turns out that horse riding can result in the same dental injuries as a contact sport.

Horse Riding among the Most Injury Prone Sports

While there isn't the same volume of data regarding injuries related to horse riding as other more popular sports, one study described horse riding as "the highest risk of injury in an individual sport is associated with horse riding, as a result of falls or kicks."

To avoid falls and kicks, or at least minimize the damage from those events horse riders should use a custom mouth guard when riding.

In our general dentistry practice, we make them for both kids and adults. A custom fitted mouth guard not only protects the teeth but it also assists in holding the jaw in place preventing dislocations.

A strap can be attached to the mouth guard which can then be attached to the strap on the helmet allowing the guard to be easily available. They are inexpensive, are available quickly and offer great protection for such a simple device. If your child is the horse rider, and particularly if that child has braces, you absolutely want them wearing a mouth guard when they are atop a horse.

If you have questions about mouth guards or any general dentistry topic, give our dental office a call and our staff will be happy to help. Read more: 

Family dentist : Mouth Guard : Youth Sports

What Youth Sport Has the Most Dental Injuries?

You might think that youth football or hockey generates the most injuries involving the mouth. After all they are both heavy contact sports both with other players and the ground or ice. But if you guessed either of those sports you would be wrong. What you may find surprising is that the sports with the most mouth injuries include baseball, basketball, soccer, field hockey, softball and gymnastics. Most pros in those sports don't wear mouth guards and as a result kids don't wear them either. That's not good news.

Mouth guards, even cheap stock models can help prevent broken, cracked and lost teeth as well as jaw and joint fractures. Any of those injuries can be extremely painful and all of them are expensive to fix. Protecting your active kid from mouth injuries by insisting they wear a mouth guard while playing sports is an easy, inexpensive way to guard your kid from injury.

There are Mouth Guards and then there are Mouth Guards

Like all pieces of sporting equipment mouth guards come in different grades of quality and features. Here are the three most common:

• Stock mouth guards. These are plastic and come in small, medium and large. They are cheap but if your kid won't wear them because they hurt you don't get any protection.
• Boil and Bite. This is an attempt to customize a plastic guard. It's an improvement but it is still not customized to the child's mouth.
• Customized sports guards. These are what Dr. Pyle provides at our Weston dental practice. These guards are not only customized to the child's teeth but to the width and shape of the mouth. They are by far the most durable and most comfortable. If your child has braces this is the way to go.

If you have an active child you want to make sure he/she has a mouth guard. If you want the most comfortable and most durable mouth guard, call us at our Weston dentist office and make an appointment for a fitting. Read more: