Who knew Ultimate Frisbee could be a dangerous sport?
I was playing Ultimate Frisbee about 10 days ago, which for those who haven’t heard of it is like a combination of soccer and football, only played with a Frisbee.
I was out on the field having fun and playing defense, when a guy standing about 10 feet away from me threw the disc as hard as he possibly could. And instead of soaring 50 or 60 yards in the air to his teammate, after about 10 feet it ran into an obstacle: my mouth.
Yep, I took a Frisbee straight to the mouth. The good news is that I technically made a good defensive play and caused a turnover. The bad news is that I immediately could taste blood filling up my mouth.
At this point I was angry and in pain, but I also REALLY wanted to finish the point and score. I was spitting out mouthfuls of blood as I was running around out there, but after about 2 or 3 minutes we scored and I ran off the field.
I immediately grabbed some ice and put it to my mouth. I touched my teeth and my two front teeth were loose. Luckily they hadn’t fallen out completely, but I felt exactly like a 7 year old about to get a visit from the tooth fairy.
I went to the ER, and while I was in the waiting room I tried to push the teeth back in place. Fun stuff.
When the doctor saw me he prescribed some pain pills and told me to see my dentist on Monday (the accident happened Saturday afternoon). I called the dentist’s emergency line and set an appointment for Monday at 7am.
After a painful weekend, I saw the dentist and he told me that I might be just fine. The teeth would firm back up and as soon as the pain was gone I could be in the clear.
However, he told me to look out for either of the teeth turning gray. If that happens, I can’t just fix it with teeth whitening gel by smile brilliant; I would have to go get a root canal.
After a little over a week, it looks like I have a root canal in my future. One of my teeth has definitely started turning gray, and I can’t quite tell on the other one. Looks like I need to make another dentist appointment.
I Should Have Worn a Mouth Guard
All of this could have been easily prevented if I had worn a mouth guard. With protection for my teeth, I probably would have been dealing with a bloody lip at worst.
And even if I had tooth problems while wearing the mouth guard, I wouldn’t have been liable for the dentist bills. The mouth guard I bought from Shock Doctor comes with a $10,000 dental warranty, meaning they would pay the first $10,000 of dental bills if I got hurt while wearing their mouth guard.
Luckily I have health and dental insurance, as well as a Health Savings Account that has thousands of dollars in it, so it’s not going to hurt me much financially to pay for all the dental bills I have incurred and will incur with any more work that needs to be done.
From now on, I’ll be wearing a mouth guard any time I’m playing sports, even if it is one that seems as harmless as Ultimate Frisbee. I’d rather not deal with the pain of another root canal or a chipped tooth, and I don’t want to be financially responsible for any damage.
Readers: Do you use a mouth guard when you play sports?
Kevin McKee is an entrepreneur, IT guru, and personal finance leader. In addition to his writing, Kevin is the head of IT at Buildingstars, Co-Founder of Padmission, and organizer of Laravel STL. He is also the creator of www.contributetoopensource.com. When he’s not working, Kevin enjoys podcasting about movies and spending time with his wife and four children.
Ouch, that reminds me of something similar that happened to me with a game of touch football. Me and a teammate where closing in on the guy with the ball. He was behind him and I was coming towards him. The guy cut in between the two of us and our heads collided. I remember my eyes flashing black and then blood pooling out of my nose. I later had to visit the ER to get stiches and reset my broken nose. Not much I could have done other than wear a nose guard you see bastketball players wear.
That sounds pretty crappy. Hopefully you weren’t out too much money. I just got the dentist bill for two root canals and crowns, and it was over $1000!
Oh, dear. Teeth can be such a pain. Maybe 30 years ago I cracked a tooth (of course on a Friday night), and after a weekend of agony had it restored the next Monday. Years later it needed a root canal, then the root canal become infected and I need an apico to relieve accumulated pus, but that treatment failed and so I finally needed a treatment this past year that required removing the tooth, a bone graft, and finally a titanium implant. And since we only have a $1K dental cap per year and aren’t eligible for an HSA, I wound up paying at least $3K out of pocket. With all the other expenses of getting older, I think this year for the first time in my life I’ll be able to itemize some of my medical.
Wow, $3k out of pocket really sucks. Luckily I had about $8k in my HSA, so now that it cost me $1k for the dental work, I still have a decent cushion sitting there for the next accident.
Ouch! That sucks. I’m so sorry.
Health, dental, (mental? haha) — all treatments cost! And A LOT, I must say. Good thing you have several insurances on you. Stay safe! “Prevention is the best cure” after all.
Dude, that’s hardcore that you stayed on the field for the point. Glad you are going to be okay minus the root canal.
could be worse. i tore my acl playing basketball. i actually recovered quickly and still missed weeks of work. luckily i had sick time saved up.
I play basketball and volleyball and have never worn a mouth guard. When I was younger I used to break my glasses all the time but since then, I got LASIK. I also wear running shoes to play basketball and never hurt my ankles (*knock on wood*).