It’s outdoor hockey season again in Vermont and thousands are taking advantage of the season to skate. Ice hockey is especially popular in Vermont, with Vermont ranking fourth in registered hockey players as a percentage of its population. As dental professionals, however, we feel the obligation to warn people of the danger of skating and ice hockey. While hockey may not cause as many injuries as skiing, it’s still an extremely dangerous sport.
It’s a very dangerous sport to not be wearing a mouthguard in, since 16% of injuries sustained while playing hockey are oral injuries.
Whether you get a dental injury while skiing or playing hockey, the advice and dental treatment options are the same. You can read more about what to do in the event of a dental injury while skiing in a previous blog post.
Regardless of the dental injury you get while playing ice hockey, odds are that going to a prosthodontist, a dentist specializing in replacing missing teeth and restoring function in the mouth, might be the best option. A prosthodontist like the one found at Colchester Dental Group has the versatility needed to treat the variety of dental injuries that come with hockey. This means that if someone needs to get a dental implant to replace a tooth they lost while playing hockey they can get the implant and dental crown in one office, instead of getting the dental implant done with a specialist and the crown with a general dentist. The extra training of a prosthodontist becomes even more useful in complex situation where multiple teeth are lost, as may be likely with hockey.
If you live near Burlington and got a dental injury while playing ice hockey, set up a dental consultation with our prosthodontist to see how he can help.
