Mouthguards are essential if your child is playing sports. Many organized sports require them, but if they are uncomfortable, children don't always wear them. Parents should make sure they do.

The American Dental Association recommends a mouth guard for participation in the following sports: acrobatics, basketball, boxing, discus throwing, field hockey, football, gymnastics, handball, ice hockey, lacrosse, martial arts, racquetball, rugby, shot putting, skateboarding, skiing, skydiving, soccer, squash, surfing, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting and wrestling.

Dentists estimate that between 13% and 39% of dental injuries occur while playing sports. In one year, 5 million teeth are knocked out of the mouths of children and teenagers during sports in the United States. Safechild.net reports that 60% of organized sports-related injuries occur during practice rather than during games.

The front teeth are most at risk. Approximately 80% of all dental injuries affect one or more of the front teeth. Soft tissue damage, as a result of biting the tongue or cheek, is also common.

Approximately 200,000 oral injuries will be prevented by mouth guard use in the next year. Emergency rooms see over 150,000 bicycle related injuries each year.

If a single tooth is knocked out through an accident sustained in sports activity, the treatment will involve either re-implantation with root canal therapy and possibly crown or replacement therapy with a bridge or implant when your child is old enough. There may be an interim period where your child will have to wear a cumbersome removable temporary appliance until they are old enough for a more permanent solution. The expense of these treatments will often be as much as 15-30 times the cost of a custom fit mouthguard.

Mouth guards range from $5 (low-end bought in store) to $150 (top of the line custom fit). The ready-to-wear, U-shaped mouth guards, made from rubber or vinyl materials, can be bought without a prescription in many sporting goods stores. However, they do not evenly distribute the force of an impact due to the looseness of a non-custom fit. Dr. Brazis recommends that you avoid using these type of mouth guards and suggests going to a dentist to have a custom-fitted mouth guard made to fit comfortably in your mouth and offer better protection.

If having a mouth guard custom-fit by a dentist isn't an option, then the best alternative would be a "boil-and-bite" mouth guard from the sporting goods stores. These mouth guards are made from a type of plastic that softens in boiling water. You place the mouth guard in boiling water, and once the plastic is soft, you put it into your mouth, bite down on it, and mold the softened plastic around your teeth using your fingers, lips and tongue.

Be careful not to scald yourself when removing the mouth guard from the boiling water, and make sure that it isn't too hot to put into your mouth. These mouth guards can be reheated and refit if the fit isn't comfortable after the first try.

Dentalnotes, a publication from the Academy of General Dentistry, says mouth guards have to be kept clean. Teeth should be brushed and mouth guards cleaned before being placed in the mouth and to preserve the guards, clean them after use. And, of course, mouth guards should not be shared.