It’s ski and snowboarding season again in Burlington and with it extra trips to the dentist from ski and snowboarding injuries. The dental team at Colchester Dental Group urges extra caution while enjoying the slopes especially if it’s your first time skiing or snowboarding. A study of over 22,000 first-time skier and snowboarders found that 4% skiers and 4% of snowboarders got injured. But even more seasoned skier and snowboarders get injured, as seen in this study that found that 54.1% of ski and snowboarding instructors had sustained some sort of injury while skiing or snowboarding, with 6.6% of them reporting a dental injury from snow sports.
There are some steps that can be taken to avoid dental injury while skiing near Burlington, such as being more careful or wearing a mouthguard. At the end of the day though someone will sustain an injury that will require a trip to the dentist. In you are one of these unfortunate people here are some options on the road to recovery:
- Saving the tooth – If a tooth has fallen out and is preserved in milk, saline, or saliva, a dentist may be able to save the tooth. The same is true if the teeth have become loose instead of falling out completely. The key here is to get to a dentist as soon as possible.
- Replacing a missing tooth with a bridge – If the tooth or teeth cannot be saved then the dentist may recommend a dental bridge. This cosmetic dental solution can restore function as well, but without teeth at that site in the jawbone, the bone will start undergoing a process called resorption where the body starts breaking down the now-unused bone.
- Replacing a missing tooth with a dental implant – As mentioned earlier, bone can start disappearing at the site of the lost tooth. In order to avoid this, patients and dentists often opt for dental implants. These are screws that are placed inside the jawbone and topped with a dental crown or dental prosthesis. With something now implanted in the jawbone, resorption should slow down, thus providing a cosmetic, functional, and long-term solution to a missing tooth.
- Complex gum and bone grafting – If the injuries are extensive, the dentist may recommend that bone and gum grafts be done first in order to provide enough tissue to place a dental implant. This treatment, alongside with the dental implant treatment, will be done by a gum specialist called a periodontist.
At Colchester Dental Group, guiding you and leading the dental team on this road to recovery is a prosthodontist. This type of dentist is a specialist in replacing missing teeth. While the prosthodontist will lead the treatment plan for patients suffering from skiing and snowboarding injuries, they do not perform all of the treatment. Colchester Dental Group also has a periodontist, a specialist in gum tissue and the bone beneath it. This specialist would come into play in complex cases where tissue grafting and dental implants are needed to replace teeth from a skiing or snowboarding accident.
If you live in or near Burlington and are looking for a dentist to help with injuries sustained while skiing or snowboarding, we urge you to contact Colchester Dental Group to set up a consultation with our prosthodontist.
