Mouthguard use has been shown to reduce the risk of sport-related dental injuries. Both the ADA Council of Scientific Affairs and the Council on Access, Prevention and Interprofessional Relations recognize that dental injuries are common in collision or contact sports and recreational activities. Numerous surveys of sports-related dental injuries have documented that participants of all ages, genders and skill levels are at risk of sustaining dental injuries in sporting activities, including organized and unorganized sports at both recreational and competitive levels. While collision and contact sports, such as boxing, have inherent injury risks, dental injuries are also prevalent in non-contact activities and exercises, such as gymnastics and skating.

Dr. Gabot-Heyman promotes the importance of safety in maintaining oral health and the use of a properly fitted mouthguard as the best available protective device for reducing the incidence and severity of sports-related dental injuries. Our office is committed to oral health promotion and injury prevention for sports participants.

Dr. Gabot-Heyman recommends that people of all ages use a properly fitted mouthguard in any sporting or recreational activity that may pose a risk of injury. She also educates patients about mouthguards and orofacial injury risks, including appropriate guidance on mouthguard types, their protective properties, costs and benefits. The key educational message is that the best mouthguard is one that is utilized during sport activities.

Grinding your teeth or clenching your jaws, called bruxism, often happens as you sleep. Teeth grinding can be caused not just by stress and anxiety but by sleep disorders, an abnormal bite or teeth that are missing or crooked.

The symptoms of teeth grinding include:

• Dull headaches
• Jaw soreness
• Teeth that are painful or loose
• Fractured teeth

Dr. Gabot-Heyman can fit you with a night guard to protect your teeth during sleep. If stress is the cause, you need to find a way to relax. Meditation, counseling and exercise can all help reduce stress and anxiety.

Teeth grinding is also common in children. However, because their teeth and jaws change and grow so quickly it is not usually a damaging habit that requires treatment and most outgrow it by adolescence. In adults teeth grinding is often the result of stress, the same is not always true with children.