The crack of the bat, the snap of the leather, the bellowing call of the umpire … once all this rain decides to clear out baseball season will be here and tens of thousands of kids across Canada will lace up their cleats and take to baseball diamonds across our beautiful land. But like many sports, playing baseball can expose your child to dental risks, so here are a few things to keep in mind this summer as you and your young one head out to enjoy the grand old game!

Protect Your Child’s Teeth from the Outside

Protecting your child’s teeth starts with prevention from the outside. Most baseball and softball leagues will mandate that players must wear a batting helmet to protect their heads from getting hit by balls, bats and other players and to protect them should they fall. But beyond the protection that a batting helmet provides, you can also add a protective face cage.

A face cage bolts onto the ear flaps and visor (depending on which type you buy) and has a full cage structure over the lower part of the face. They don’t usually have any bars in front of the eyes, allowing your little one to clearly see what’s going on. Most designs are such that no opening is bigger than the size of an official baseball, so your little one’s entire face is protected.

A quality batting helmet with a sturdy face cage can help protect your child’s face against errant balls, bats, other players and the ground. That’s a great start to protecting your child’s teeth this baseball season!

Protect Your Child’s Teeth from the Inside

A batting helmet with a face cage is a good start but doesn’t necessarily offer one type of protection: it might not always protect your child’s teeth from getting banged together, which can cause chips, cracks and breakages to your child’s teeth.

The solution to this particular risk is a custom fit mouthguard. Molded exactly to fit your child’s teeth, a custom fit mouthguard envelopes the top teeth set, providing a layer of impact protection should something hit your child in the mouth, but more importantly offering protection by preventing the teeth from banging together.

You can find over-the-counter (OTC) mouthguards at sports stores but they don’t offer the same protection that a custom fit mouthguard will. A full-service family dentist like Orion Dental can offer a custom fit mouthguard, and at a much more reasonable and painless price than having to deal with cracked, chipped or broken teeth!

The Right Snacks for Protecting Your Child’s Teeth

While your child probably isn’t going to get smacked in the teeth by a snack, there are some potential dangers that lie in the types of snacks that are commonly part of the baseball season.

Sunflower seeds are a staple amongst baseball fans. Kids love chewing on them and spitting them out like the big leaguers, and they’re great for siblings and parents to nibble on in the stands. But continuously chewing hard seeds like sunflower seeds can weaken, chip and crack teeth, too. So, if your little one enjoys a mouthful of seeds at their game, just remember that you might want to offer up some softer alternatives than sunflower seeds.

Also, keep an eye on the other snacks your little leaguer might be eating before, during and after their games. Many teams share the responsibility of a post-game treat amongst the parents. If your team’s post-game snack includes some sugary deliciousness, make sure a good teeth brushing happens before your child goes to bed.

Spring is officially here and that means baseball for many aspiring little leaguers. Protecting your child’s teeth by adding a protective face cage to their batting helmet, getting them a custom fit mouthguard and monitoring the snacks they’re chewing during and after the games can prevent painful and potentially costly situations like chipped, cracked or broken teeth. Orion Dental provides a full range of dental services for the entire family, and with evening and weekend hours and offices conveniently located in Milton and Scarborough, we can be part of your winning dental health team! Call our Milton dental office at (905) 636 – 9770 or our Scarborough dental office at (416) 291 – 0306 and book an appointment today!