We encourage everyone to wear sportsguards whenever participating in any sport that can result in a fall or a blow to the mouth and head.
Unfortunately, more severe trauma to the front teeth often leads to a sequence of dental treatment throughout the rest of your life. This is why I advocate so strongly on reducing the risk of trauma with the use of sportsguards.
Here’s a sequence of photos of treatment completed for a 9 year old boy who fell while running and chipped a large portion of his adult front tooth. From around age around 6-10 can be a time where kids are more at risk for dental trauma. This is usually the time they are starting to change over to their adult front teeth and for many, these teeth my flare out more (Bug’s Bunny style). This is also an age where kids are always playing and running around and not always in a safest manner. My own kids are proof of that!
For this young man, he was fortunate that the chip, although significant, did not involve the nerve of his tooth. Dental treatment was relatively straight forward and we were able to place a composite tooth-coloured filling to restore his tooth.
However, he’s not out of the woods yet. Due to this trauma, there is a likelihood that the nerve of this tooth will die over time and become infected and then needing root canal therapy. To protect this tooth structurally, a crown will be also be needed at that time. If and when this happens cannot be predicted, so we would monitor his tooth for symptoms or changes in colour when we see him for his future regular examinations.
For more information about sportsguards or if you are in need of emergency dental treatment due to dental trauma, contact a member of your North Delta Dental team at 604-596-9900