3 Ways Recreational Football Players Can Protect Their Dental Implants
If you play football recreationally and you have a dental implant, there are precautions that you should take to help protect the device. Here are a few of them:
Wear a helmet, even if you are simply playing with friends.
Even if you are only playing a friendly game of football with a few neighborhood friends, it is important to protect your face and mouth at all times. A dental implant is installed inside your jawbone, and even though it has fused with the bone through osseointegration, the implant can still be dislodged. If an implant is knocked from its original position, it will fail. The implanted rod or screw will not reconnect with the bone tissue.
As a result, it is important to fully protect your dental implant from blows and jarring that could occur if you are tackled or hit on the football field. As you fall to the ground after a tackle, your teeth may clench together, placing undue pressure on the implant. To avoid problems that could occur from a blow to the mouth by a ball or an opponent, be sure that your helmet is in place with an appropriate face guard.
Use your mouth guard.
Like the helmet, a mouth guard provides additional protection for your mouth. When in place, it should block your teeth from excessive bite force or pressure that could occur from the physical contact of the game.
Be sure that your mouth guard fits comfortably inside your mouth so that you are more likely to wear it. The mouth guard used should be similar in composition to one used for bruxism. It must be shock absorbent and soft enough to maintain a high level of comfort.
Don't bite on pens during coaching or planning meetings.
As you meet with fellow teammates about plays or sit under a coach's instruction, it can be easy to nibble on pen tops or other hard objects as you concentrate. If biting on pens has become a habit for you, try to replace it with something less harmful for your dental implant, such as chewing sugarless gum.
Sugarless gum does not damage a dental implant, but it can pull plaque and other debris from the other teeth and gums. It can even incite the flow of saliva to help neutralize bacterial acid that causes decay and inflames gums. Gum inflammation is especially important for people who have dental implants. A serious case of gum disease could result in bone loss that could cause a dental implant to fail.
To learn more ways that you can help protect your dental implant, schedule a consultation with an implant dentist or visit a website like http://www.neufamilydental.com.
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