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.