Published reports show that the majority of mouth injuries occur in such popular youth sports as baseball, basketball, soccer, field hockey, softball and gymnastics, with one study finding that roughly three times as many mouth injuries occur on the basketball court as on the football field. Recent studies also report that oral and facial injuries to female athletes exceed those in males. Most of these injuries could have been prevented with the simple use of a mouth guard [1].
Injuries to the mouth and jaw - broken, cracked and lost teeth, jaw and joint fractures - are painful and hard to treat. Jaw and joint injuries often require surgery and general anesthesia, which requires hospitalization and wiring the jaw shut for 30 days to let the injury heal. A lost tooth must be re-implanted or false teeth made and fitted. Although easier to treat than a broken or fractured jaw, lost teeth are just as painful.
Knocked Out Tooth
Luxation (Tooth in socket, but wrong position) and Extruded tooth (Upper tooth hangs downs and/or lower tooth raised up)
Lateral displacement (Tooth pushed back or pulled forward)
Intruded tooth (Tooth pushed into gum - looks short)
Fracture (broken tooth)
Trauma cards for distribution may be obtained through the Academy for Sports Dentistry at 800-273-1788 inside of U.S.A. and 217-227-3431 outside of U.S.A.
Source: Academy for Sports Dentistry [2]
Most recently updated July 11, 2012
Links:
[1] https://mail.momsteam.com/node/228
[2] http://www.sportsdentistry-asd.org/
[3] https://mail.momsteam.com/health-safety/mouth-guards-prevent-dental-injuries-but-need-to-be-replaced-frequently
[4] https://mail.momsteam.com/health-safety/mouth-guards-daily-sanitizing-between-uses-urged
[5] https://mail.momsteam.com/sports/basketball/equipment/buying-mouth-guards