Sports dentistry: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Abstract

Sports is a form of recreation that helps people to get away with everyday stress. It is also associated with the risk of traumatic injury, especially in case of contact sports. Dental injuries that are caused due to sports mostly involve the maxillofacial region. Out of all the sports-related dental injuries, the most complex injury is tooth avulsion and should be considered as real emergency. Protection from sports-related orofacial injuries currently comes in the form of three shielding equipment, namely mouthguards, facemasks, and helmets. Sports dentistry, being the most recent and upcoming field in dentistry, inculcates the prevention, maintenance, and treatment of oral and facial injuries. Dentists must have sound clinical knowledge regarding sports-related dentofacial injuries and should make it a point to inform parents regarding the orofacial injury caused due to sports and regarding various preventive measures that are available.

Keywords

• dentofacial injury
• facemasks
• helmet
• mouthguards
• prevention
• sports dentistry
• trauma