While my vocation is dentistry, my “second job” is as a high school and USSF soccer official. In this capacity I have seen numerous dental injuries. These range from the somewhat minor like a chipped tooth, to the major injuries of teeth being knocked out and concussions. The best way to prevent all these injuries is the wearing of a dental mouthguard while participating or practicing in sports. While some sports require these mouthguards for participation,like football,field hockey, and lacrosse many do not. I would strongly recommend mouthguard wear for any sport where physical contact is expected, like soccer,basketball,and even volleyball and baseball. I would recommend you visit your dentist and have him or her custom fit a protective mouthguard for you. These are usually much more comfortable to wear than the stock mouthguards available at sporting good stores. At bare minimum I would recommend a good quality stock mouthguard from a sporting good store. Remember to protect that smile, it needs to last a lifetime.
YES, chewing the right kind of gum can be good for your teeth. New research shows that gum containing the sweetener XYLITOL is beneficial to your oral health. The new buzzword in bacterial caused diseases is BIOFILM, this is that very intricately constructed bacterial architecture that harbors all those bad germs. According to research, eating xylitol sweetened candies over a four day stretch leads to a 50 percent reduction in plaque biofilms. New research
shows the addition of xylitol several times a day can reduce the need for restorative dentistry by as much as 70%. It also is beneficial for mothers to chew xyltiol sweetened gum which changes the oral flora they pass on to their children. While I don’t like to advertise certain brands TRIDENT X-tra care gum is a good source of xylitol, as well as SPRY products which can be purchased online or at some Whole Food Stores. So chew 3 or 4 pieces of gum a day for about 10 minutes at a time. (Don’t overdue it, too much chewing is bad for the jaw.)For more information on this topic feel free to email me at drpmc1@gmail.com or call our office at 502-423-7868.
