Fall Sports Are Here: Protecting Your Athlete's Smile

What Actually Happens to Teeth in Fall Sports

Dental injuries in youth sports do not always come from the big collision people picture. They also come from an elbow going up for a rebound, a knee meeting a jaw during a cheer stunt, a ball off the face in soccer, a head-to-head bump at the bottom of a pile, or a plain fall on a hard surface.

A football helmet and face mask keep a lot away from the face, but they do not stop the jaw from snapping shut on a blow to the chin, which is why mouthguards are separate equipment. In soccer, basketball, and cheer there is usually no headgear at all, and those are the sports where a mouthguard is easiest to skip.

A mouthguard does three things, and they explain why fit matters so much:

• It spreads force. A blow that would land on one front tooth gets distributed across the whole arch instead.
• It cushions. The material absorbs part of the energy before it reaches enamel, root, and bone.
• It separates teeth from soft tissue. Many sports mouth injuries are not broken teeth at all. They are lips and cheeks cut open against the edges of the teeth behind them.

Boil-and-Bite: An Honest Look

The boil-and-bite guard from the sporting goods aisle softens in hot water so your athlete can bite into it and leave an impression. It is inexpensive, it is available tonight, and it is better than nothing.

Its limits are mostly about whether it stays in the mouth:

• It usually needs to be held in place. A boil-and-bite guard mostly stays in because your athlete is biting down on it. The moment they relax their jaw to breathe hard or call a play, it loosens.
• Bulk gets in the way of talking and breathing. That is a common reason guards end up chewed on, pushed to the front of the mouth, or sitting in a helmet on the sideline. A guard in the equipment bag protects nothing.
• The bite-down thins it where it counts. Biting into softened material squeezes it out from under the molars, so the finished thickness is uneven and often thinnest in the places absorbing the most force.
• It does not hold its shape indefinitely. Heat, chewing, and a growing mouth all work against the original impression over a season.

A boil-and-bite is a genuinely reasonable choice in a few situations: your child joined a sport mid-season and needs something at practice tomorrow; they are in a stretch of rapid growth or actively losing teeth, so any guard will be outgrown quickly; the sport is lower contact and they are trying it out for one season; or you need a spare in the bag for the day the good one gets left at school. If that is what fits your family right now, use it, and re-form it when the fit goes loose.

What a Custom Mouthguard Adds

A custom sports mouthguardstarts with a scan or impression of your athlete's actual teeth. The guard is then built on a model of that arch, which changes a few practical things.

• It stays put without clenching. Retention comes from the fit around the teeth, so your athlete can talk, shout, and breathe through their mouth with the guard in. That is often the difference between a guard that gets worn and one that gets taken out.
• Thickness goes where the impact goes. Material can be built up over the front teeth and the biting surfaces instead of being squeezed thin by a bite-down.
• It is less bulky for the same protection. Because it is not oversized to fit every mouth shape, it takes up less room, which is most of why athletes tolerate it.
• It can be made to work around braces. More on that below.

The tradeoff is honest: a custom guard costs more and requires an appointment, and a child in a growth spurt may need a new one sooner than you would like. It is not automatically the right answer for every kid.

How to Choose Between Them

Rather than a rule, here are the questions that decide it:

• Will they wear it? The honest answer here outranks everything else. An athlete who takes a bulky guard out every time they come off the field is unprotected for most of the game.
• How much contact, and how often? Daily contact practice through a long season is a different exposure than a recreational league that meets once a week.
• Where are they in their growth? A mouth that is still losing baby teeth will move under any guard. Mid-growth is often when a boil-and-bite earns its place.
• Have they already had a dental injury, a restored front tooth, or orthodontic work? Once there is a repaired tooth or an appliance in the mouth, the case for a better-fitting guard gets stronger.

Braces Change the Math

If your athlete is in braces, do not simply mold a boil-and-bite over the brackets. Softened material can flow around and lock onto the hardware, which makes removal a problem and can put unintended force on the appliance.

Braces also raise the stakes on soft tissue. Brackets sit between the lip and the teeth, so an impact that would have bruised a lip can instead open it against the hardware. Orthodontic mouthguards are made differently, with room for teeth to move and for the appliance to sit. Tell us your athlete is in treatment when you call, and check with your orthodontist too.

Fitting It Into the Season

A few things that apply whichever type you choose:

• Get it before the first contact practice. Injuries do not wait for game day, and preseason gives the guard time to become a habit.
• Rinse it and let it dry. Cool water after use, occasional cleaning with a toothbrush and soap, and dry before it goes in the case.
• Use a vented case, not a pocket. A guard rattling loose in a bag picks up grit and gets stepped on.
• Keep it out of a hot car. Heat is what shapes these materials in the first place, and a guard left on a dashboard in September can come back distorted.
• Bring it to checkups. We can look at how it is wearing and whether a growing mouth has moved past it. That fits naturally into a regular cleaning and exam.

What It Costs

We will not put a number in a blog post, because it depends on real variables: how thick the guard needs to be for the sport, whether it has to accommodate braces, and what your plan contributes. Some plans cover a portion for children and some cover none.

What we will commit to is this: you get the cost in writing before anything starts, and nobody here will push a custom guard on a family for whom a boil-and-bite is the sensible call this season. Without dental insurance, ask about the Virginia Dental Club, our membership plan; our insurance page covers how we handle coverage.

If a Tooth Gets Hit Anyway

Guards reduce risk. They do not eliminate it, so it is worth knowing the first few minutes cold. One rule comes before all of them: if the same hit caused a head injury, confusion, or loss of consciousness, go to the emergency room first.

• A permanent tooth knocked completely out is the one true race against the clock. Handle it by the crown, not the root, keep it moist, and call us immediately. Our knocked-out tooth page has the steps, and it is worth reading before you need it. A knocked-out baby tooth should not be put back in, but call us anyway.
• A chipped or cracked tooth should be seen even when it does not hurt, because a crack can reach the nerve later. See broken tooth repair.
• A tooth that is loose, pushed out of line, or aching after a hit needs an exam, even a few days later. Call rather than wait and watch.

We try to fit in urgent visitsthe same day, and both Roanoke offices see patients Monday to Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM. Call Dr. Perry's office on Electric Rd at 540-774-8288or Dr. Razi's office on Brambleton Ave at 540-774-3143, or book online at any hour.