Why Use Custom Mouthguards?

Play is the new word of the day. Whether you're enjoying family fun time or your favorite sport, just getting out and playing should always make you smile. Just make sure you protect that smile with a great mouthguard.

Custom-made personalized mouthguards:

• Offer top-notch protection
• Fit comfortably & stay in place
• Allow you to talk & breathe easily
• Growing jaws & new teeth can be accommodated properly

Mouthguards, especially Under Armour Mouthguards, protect more than just the teeth and face. There is also evidence that they reduce the incidence and severity of concussions. Everyone, including grownups, should wear a mouthguard during activities that put them at risk of injury; for example, hockey, football, basketball, and even mountain biking should be enjoyed with a mouthguard. 

Like any sports gear, a mouthguard will wear out. Bring yours along to every checkup to confirm that it's providing optimum protection. 

If you have any questions, then contact Rubino Dentistry- a dentist in Chicago. We offer custom fit mouthguards from Under Armour. A performance mouthguard can even give you the confidence to perform better! 

Sleep Apnea 101

Imagine you just got home from work, you're tired, you ate dinner, watch some TV, and now are ready for some well-deserved rest. You even go to bed an hour early so you can get some more sleep. 

Sounds like a nice scenario, right? Well, this is a common scenario for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people every day. Some of those people have something called sleep apnea which can really put distress on your sleep quality and even more importantly, the oxygen to your body (yes, that includes your brain). 

What is sleep apnea? Sleep apnea is a rather serious sleeping disorder which happens when the breathing you have during sleep is interrupted. For some people, their sleep can be interrupted multiple times during the night, perhaps dozens to hundreds of times. This means that with all those interruptions of not breathing during the night, your body may not be getting enough oxygen, this affects your body. 

There are two kinds of sleep apnea: obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, is much more common for people to have than CSA; this is when there is a blockage in the airway that causes the apnea. Usually, this is caused by soft tissue collapsing in the back of the throat. CSA is less common and the airway is not blocked. With CSA, the brain forgets to signal to the muscles that they have to breathe; this is a flaw in the respiratory control center. 

Ask your doctor or dentist if you are at risk for sleep apnea. Contact Rubino Dentistry - a Park Ridge dentist about sleep apnea treatments. As a Park Ridge dental office, we see a fair share of patients who had sleep apnea but got treatments for it and we see a big difference. 

Why Is Wearing a Mouthguard Important in Sports

Sports are a big deal in the United States, we are a country that loves athletes and we love participating in sports. Professional sports are the big events to watch but we also have developed a love for the youth and adolescent sports in the country as well. They can be fun to watch and have our children participate in them. However, sports can be have injuries and those injuries can be painful, especially when they happen to the mouth. Even when your child plays a non-contact sport, like soccer or basketball, they can still get a tooth injury because of a ball or accidental hand to the face.

So how do you prevent this from happening? Wearing a mouthguard can help. How common are injuries in youth sports? Well, recent reports have stated that nearly 36% of accidental injuries that happen to children happen from sports; of those injuries, approximately 15% of them happen to the mouth.

What kind of injuries can happen to the mouth? There are three classifications:

1. Fracture: This is when there is a root fracture, a broken tooth, or a chipped tooth.
2. Avulsion: This is when the entire tooth is knocked out, including the root. 
3. Luxation: This is when the tooth is knocked into a wrong position but is still in the socket. 
1. Extruded: the affected tooth looks larger than the teeth around it. 
2. Lateral displacement: the tooth is moved forward or pushed back. 

The thing about dental injuries is that they are often easily prevented and one way to help prevent them is to wear that mouthguard. Some dentists are able to custom make them for you; this dentist in Park Ridge is a carrier of UnderArmour mouth guards. Indeed, mouth guards can seem rather hard to wear because they can make it harder to talk. 

If you have any questions about the UnderArmour mouth guards or questions regarding other dental concerns, then contact Rubino Dentistry - a Chicago dentist.