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Comprehensive General Dental Care for the Adult and Child,
Including: Preventive, Restorative (Including Cosmetic
Restorations), Prosthetic (fixed, removable, and implants), Endodontic (root
canals) and Periodontal Care.
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Basketball &
mouthguards
Study looks at whether they prevent
injury
By Stacie Crozier
Chapel Hill, N.C. — Though
many athletic trainers, physicians, dentists and the ADA
recommend that athletes — both amateur enthusiasts and
professionals — wear mouthguards when participating in
recreation that poses a hazard to dentition, the practice
isn’t common among youth, high school, college or professional
basketball players. | |
| But maybe it should be.
A recent study at the University of North Carolina showed that
athletes from 50 different men’s Division I college basketball
teams who wore mouthguards during the 1999-2000 season had
significantly fewer dental injuries than peers who left their
teeth unguarded.
In addition to saving themselves
from injury and pain, mouthguard users saved on the bottom
line, too. All 45 of the dentist referrals recorded during the
season were for injured athletes who didn’t wear mouthguards.
Researchers calculated that treatment for an average dental
injury would add up to about $1,000, about 20 times more than
the price tag on a custom-fitted mouthguard.
A report on this study was
published in the January 2002 issue of Medicine and Science in
Sports and Exercise, a journal of the American College of
Sports Medicine.
The ADA Council on Access,
Prevention and Interprofessional Relations offers a resource
information packet on mouthguards, including studies on injury
prevention using mouthguards, fabrication information and
other special reports. The ADA also has a brochure explaining
the benefits, choices and care of mouthguards to your
patients. For more information, contact CAPIR at the
Association’s toll-free number, Ext. 2751, or visit the mouthguard
oral health topic online.
| | Source:
www.ada.org
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