Summerhill College

Summerhill College Gaelic
October 2011

"Dental injuries and their consequences could be almost totally prevented by the use of gum shields."(University of Manchester Dental Hospital)


Parents/Guardians,
Recent studies have reported that an estimated 6,000 teenage dental sports injuries occur each year because they don’t wear protective and one third of all adult dental injuries are sports related.

The Irish Dental Association (I.D.A.) has called on all Gaelic footballers to wear gum shields or mouth-guards in order to protect their teeth from injury.

The IDA says that a high percentage of GAA players do not use gum shields and believes the situation needs to be addressed urgently at both adult and juvenile level.

What do you do if you are unlucky enough to have a tooth knocked out? When it comes to a dental injury, prevention is better than cure. So with this in mind, I have negotiated with a local dentist to fit your son with a custom fitted mouth-guard at a much reduced rate.

Although wearing gum-shields is currently not yet in the regulations of playing Gaelic Football, we strongly recommend them and parents are urged to take as many precautions as possible when it comes to protecting injury to their children playing contact sports.

Types:
Stock mouth guard offers least amount of protection and are available in all sport stores. The main disadvantage of these mouth guards are they don't fit properly in mouth either they are loose or too tight which can pinch gingiva and other soft tissues of mouth.

Boil and bite mouth guards are better as compared to stock mouth guards. These are also available in all sports stores. All you need is to put these mouth guards in hot water and then place mouth guard in mouth; it will itself adjust in mouth. Its better if you take help of dentist to get it fit properly.

Custom fit mouth guards are made by dentist in dental clinics. These are quite expensive, but provide better protection against injuries.
Costs:
The price quoted to Summerhill College for minimum of 50 players is €25 for a custom fitted mouth-guard.

If you are or are not interested in the custom fitted gum-shield, please fill in the sheet below and get return to the office for Mr. Damian Keenan. Once we are sure we have enough players that are interested in these gum-shields, we can collect the €25.

Frequently asked Questions:
If your son has braces, then it is not possible to be fitted for the Custom gum shieldsyour son has braces, then a special gum-shield will be ordered from U.S.A. for approximately €10 your son’s mouth is not fully developed and has more growing to do (under 15 years of age) then the custom fitted mouth guard will last approximately 1 year and then will be too small and the player will need to be re-measured.

Damian Keenan
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To: Mr Damian Keenan.

[ ] - I am interested in getting my Son measured for a custom fitted mouth-guard (€25),


[ ] - I am not interested in getting my Son measured for a custom fitted mouth-guard,


[ ] – My son has braces and I would like to get the special mouth-guard to suit (Approx €10)


Your Sons Name: _________________________________________________________


Date of Birth: ____________________________________________________________


School team he plays with:__________________________________________________


Parent’s name (Sign) ______________________________________________________


Parents name (Print) _____________________________________________________