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Top 10 Ways to Save Face

Wear a mouth guard for any contact sport (soccer, yes; chess, probably not). Mouth guards can help prevent jaw, mouth and teeth injuries and are less costly than recovering from the injury.

Wear a helmet and it will protect your head by absorbing the energy of an impact. You don’t have to lose your head because you take a spill when cycling, snowboarding, rollerblading or horseback riding.

Wear protective eyewear so your mom won’t have to say, "You’ll poke your eye out." More importantly, you’ll be able to keep your eye on the tennis ball, baseball, football, etc.

Wear a face shield to keep your skin free from scratches and bruises. Hockey pucks, basketballs, and racquetballs can do severe damage.

Be aware of family pets. Each year roughly 44,000 people incur facial injuries from dog bites. Children should be supervised when playing with family pets (cats and rabbits too).

Buckle up and use appropriate child safety seats. Passengers who don’t buckle up are more likely to have a brain injury in a crash than the buckled driver. Air bags also save lives!

Keep babies and toddlers safe. They crawl and climb, so pad sharp corners of tables, use safety locks on cabinets, install stairwell safety gates, and secure windows. They also teethe, so hide the sharp pencils.

Be alert. Alert spectators can avoid foul baseballs and flying hockey pucks. Watch your step when climbing up bleachers.

Use common sense. If an activity carries risk of dental or facial injury, wear the right protective gear. Without it, even a pickup basketball game could result in a trip to the emergency room.

Ask the experts. To learn more, visit www.aaoms.org, www.braces.org and www.aapd.org or call 847/678-6200.

www.HealthNewsDigest.com

Last Updated October 3, 2004