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Do you think
your front teeth are worth thirty-five bucks?
That’s all a
mouth guard costs, walking off the street into the offices of Gustafson
and Morningstar, DDS, PC. Most people think a custom-made guard,
designed to protect your teeth while enjoying the nice weather and
engaging in outside sports, is extremely expensive.
“We
keep the cost down, considerably, for two reasons: We want our patients
to be properly outfitted – this is a small thing they can do that
will pay back great benefits; and we make the mouth guards here, in our
offices. It’s when you send them out to a lab that costs escalate and
they become expensive,” says Dr. Steve Gustafson.
Mouth guards
are custom-fitted acrylic covers for your teeth. “When kids play
soccer they get elbowed in the mouth. Even an informal game of ball
hockey in a driveway or parking lot opens the potential for getting hit
with a stick or a puck – I mean, look at pictures of hockey players.
They’ve all lost their front teeth.
“But mouth
guards are not just for kids. Adults, particularly those who like
in-line skating and karate, should strongly consider them. Sometimes we
aren’t as graceful as we might like to think we are, and hitting your
mouth on the pavement isn’t at all uncommon.”
The flipside
to not wearing a mouth guard isn’t unlike the risk in not wearing a
motorcycle helmet while riding.
“One adult
patient of ours was in-line skating in a parking lot, hit a patch of
oil, fell, and knocked out his three front teeth. They were severed off
at the gum line.
“The
restoration work cost over $3,000 and took four weeks worth of work to
complete,” Dr. Gustafson adds. “The patient obviously was very
uncomfortable, but fortunately, he got to us within an hour of the
accident.”
Timing is very
important. Dr. Gustafson says a quick assessment of an accident is
crucial. “If the injuries involve more than just your teeth, go
straight to an emergency room. If just your teeth were injured, call us
immediately.
“If you
knocked out a tooth, put it in a glass of milk and bring it with you
– if you get here in time, chances are good we’ll be able to
implant the tooth back into the socket.”
(Milk is high
in protein and helps keep the ligaments of the tooth healthy.)
Dr. Gustafson
isn’t suggesting a mouth guard offers perfect protection. “If you
fall or get hit in the mouth, you could have other facial damage, and
your teeth might be injured to a minimal degree, but the mouth guard
takes the highest percentage of the hit.”
Comparing
minor injury to the alternative is a fairly convincing argument for a
mouth guard. “If a tooth is knocked out, we automatically have to do
a root canal and likely a crown. That can easily run $1,500 or more,
and that’s per tooth. Usually people don’t knock out just one tooth
– it’s two or three.”
And while Drs.
Gustafson and Morningstar have as close to a painless technique as one
is going to find, it’s still uncomfortable for the patient.
“Our
children, Robbie and Anna, have mouth guards,” Dr. Gustafson says.
When asked if they wear them, he said “they darn well better – when
both of your parents are dentists, they better see the value in keeping
their teeth healthy.”
Dr.
Morningstar, who holds a black belt in karate, has a black mouth guard.
“It looks pretty menacing,” Dr. Gustafson says, smiling. He adds,
though, that the guard can be made in any color; high school students
often match the guards to the color of their uniforms.
“There’s a
real strong advantage to us building you a mouth guard over one
purchased at a sporting goods store,” Dr. Gustafson adds. “Our
mouth guard will be a custom fit. You can’t get that off a shelf.”
The American
Dental Association says off-the-shelf guards are less expensive. Those
guards are made with the “boil-and-bite” method and consist of a
hard shell with a soft liner, which looses its shape and fit after
prolonged contact with the fluids in your mouth.
Dr. Gustafson
says there are several advantages to the custom-made guards produced
professionally from by taking an impression of your teeth, including: a
consistent thickness to the guard; a snug, personalized fit (not just
cosmetic – a snug fit offers greater protection); grater durability;
and the dentist’s ability to adjust the guard so it will be
comfortable to wear.
That’s
important – it can be a great guard but if it’s uncomfortable, Dr.
Gustafson says it can cause gum irritation and won’t be worn,
defeating the whole purpose.
Children, up
until their teenage years, will need new mouth guards as their teeth
grow – another reason Dr. Gustafson keeps the costs down. However,
“an adult can get a mouth guard and it will last for years. Even if
you have to replace them, it’s a minimal amount of money to prevent
an accident that could cause you problems for a long time.”
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