Basic HTML Version
National Facial Protection Month
www.methodisthospital.org
3
Be active—and safeguard that smile!
Make sure it fits
According to the American Association of Oral
and Maxillofacial Surgeons, a helmet should sit
on top of the head in a position covering the
forehead. The chin strap should comfortably fit
around the ears and under the chin and should
not rock side to side or back and forth.
As an oral and maxillofacial surgeon, I see many
patients in my clinic and in the hospital who have
sustained facial fractures and lost teeth because
they did not wear any facial protection gear. I
often perform extensive reconstructive surgeries
on these patients. These surgeries entail
realigning fractured facial bones, repairing facial
lacerations, grafting bone to traumatized areas,
extracting fractured teeth and very often placing
multiple dental implants for missing teeth.
Most of the facial injuries I treat could have been
prevented. Be smart and protect yourself and
your loved ones from oral and facial injuries by
always wearing the appropriate safety gear. Your
dental professionals care about your well-being
and urge you to take the appropriate precautions
when you head out this spring and summer.
PROTECT YOUR FACE!
Wear a mouth guard
(shown here is a custom-made model) and
a helmet when playing a sport in which you
might get hurt.
By Armond Kotikian, DDS, MD
AS
the weather warms up, more people head
outside to play. But outdoor fun can be short-
lived, with unscheduled visits to doctors’ offices
and emergency rooms on account of head,
mouth and facial injuries.
Each year more than 775,000 children ages 5
to 14 end up in hospital emergency rooms and
as many as 3.5 million children require medical
treatment because of sports-related injuries.
Many of these injuries could be avoided if the
proper facial protection gear were used.
April is National Facial Protection Month,
sponsored by the American Association of
Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons, the American
Academy of Pediatric Dentistry, and the American
Association of Orthodontists. During this month,
children and adults are reminded to enjoy outdoor
fun while using common sense and taking the
necessary precautions to prevent injuries.
The best defense is a good offense
Here, as is so often the case, “an ounce of
prevention is worth a pound of cure.” One
simple tool is a mouth guard. Athletes are
60 times more likely to sustain damage to their
teeth, jaws and lips when they’re not wearing
mouth guards. Overall, mouth
guards have been shown to
prevent more than
200,000 injuries to the
mouth each year. Only
33 percent of
parents responding to a survey by the American
Association of Orthodontists said their children
wore mouth guards while participating in sports.
An effective mouth guard holds the teeth in place,
resists tearing, and allows for normal speech
and breathing.
There are three types of mouth guards on the
market. The most precise type is custom-made by
a dental professional after appropriate impressions
are taken. Although pricey, this type provides the
most protection and comfort.
The second type is the mouth-formed boil-and-
bite type. It’s made of a special rubber that is
boiled and then allowed to cool in the patient’s
mouth until it hardens. It is the most popular type
and is more reasonably priced. However, it can’t
be worn with braces, and it gets brittle with use.
The third and least expensive type is sold ready
to wear and can be found in most department
stores. It is often not a perfect fit and therefore
uncomfortable to wear. But any mouth guard
is better than nothing and could help prevent
broken and injured teeth, a broken jaw, or
lacerations in and around the mouth.
Helmets can protect—if you wear them
Another important protective item is the helmet.
Helmets help prevent head and facial
injuries. As many as 45,000 head injuries
and 55,000 scalp and face injuries
could be prevented annually in
children ages 4 to 15 if they wore
helmets. Only 15 to 25 percent
of children in this country use
bicycle helmets.
Helmets have been shown
to reduce head injuries by
85 percent and brain injuries
by 88 percent. Helmets should
be worn when riding bikes or
motorcycles; when rollerblading or
skateboarding; and when playing baseball,
football, hockey, or other sports and activities
where there is a chance of head and face injuries.