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“Guard” Your Teenager

Dental Mouthguards

Against Tooth Damage

Let’s face it; kids, sports, and the typical teenage sense of invulnerability make a pretty risky combination. Once a tooth is cracked, broken—or worse, knocked out—there’s no going back. It’s for keeps.

If your child is involved in any sports activity (even a pickup basketball game) a well-fitting mouthguard is the least expensive, most effective insurance you can have.

There are three general types of mouthguard:

  • Stock or Pre-formed. Inexpensive, yes. But one-size-fits-all usually means one-size-fits-nobody. And the mouthguard that sits unused is doing no good.
  • Boil-and-bite. Usually available at sporting good stores and with a better fit than stock guards. But if the preparation steps aren’t followed correctly, you may not get a good fit.
  • Custom-fitted at a dental office. The Gold Standard. Developed from a cast model of the wearer’s mouth, the fit is more precise—and more comfortable—than the alternatives. Result: they’re far more likely to be worn by the student-athlete routinely.

And isn’t that the entire point of having a mouthguard?

About Yuri Kaneda, DDS

Dr. Yuri Kaneda was born in Japan and immigrated to the US when she was 4 years old with her family. She lived in Ohio, Nebraska, and Illinois before finally settling in the San Diego area. A graduate of Bonita Vista High School, she went on to the University of California Berkeley where she obtained her Bachelors in Microbiology and Immunology. After working for 2 years in growth plate research at University of California San Diego, she went to the University of California San Francisco Dental School for her Doctor of Dental Surgery degree. Upon graduation, she returned to San Diego where she worked as an associate in the practice of Drs. Morimoto and Yaryan, her childhood dentist. She then started her own practice in 1995 and has been at her present location since 1999 which happens to be across the street from her high school!

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