We polled dental professionals from across the mid-Atlantic region to address common questions in pediatric oral care. Our next expert voice is Dr. Tracy Bowden, who talks about common teeth injuries and how to prevent them.
Dr. Tracy Bowden, DDS | Kids First Pediatric Dentistry, Baltimore County, Maryland
What’s the best way for children to protect their teeth from injury due to sports and other activities?
Many parents bring their children in with mouth injuries for sports, so custom mouthguards or mouthguards that you can buy over the counter are pretty good. That’s probably one of the best ways to not have mouth injuries, of course, and also to prevent concussions. Sixty percent of concussions are supposedly from that fall where you hit your chin. (Also it’s) just wearing mouthguards in sports where children normally don’t. Kids in soccer don’t usually wear mouthguards. They don’t wear them in basketball, and that’s where we see all the injuries.
