Do You Know Anybody With Smashed Teeth

[Baz JJ]

Being pretty new to the sport and still in my 'proving myself serious' two month phase, Ive observed that many of the experienced members only use eye protection.

The threat of a chipped tooth is there but do you know anybody first hand who has had the gnashers smashed by a BB ?

Usually your lips protect your teeth surely, unless you spend too much time talking when you should be listening or you're engaged in ferocious CQB?

 

[Monty]

No one that I know of has had their teeth shot out. YET. Just keep your mouth closed and you should be fine.

 

[iTTz n00b]

my friend Kristopher loader got shot in the tooth a few weeks ago and it chipped his tooth :/

 

[Baz JJ]

Did he have any kind of protection over his jaw or was he just using eye protection ?

 

[JameszoBoB]

There's a marshal at my skirmish site who is missing two front teeth because some one shot him in the mouth with a 500 FPS sniper rifle so personally I always wear full face protection.

 

[RedwolfAirsoftUK]

I lost the very tops of two teeth many years ago and two of my team mates have had chipped teeth . It's the risk you take when you don't wear lower protection .

My advice to any new player is to wear mesh right away before you get used to playing without it !

 

[david0512]

I used to wear a lower face mesh mask when I first started, but now I just use eye protection and I've never taken a bb to the mouth.

 

[Baz JJ]

I suppose what Im trying to do is assess the risk. Some interesting instances of chipped teeth here. Are they getting broken through closed lips or is it an unlucky shot when the mouth is open ?

If a BB can break a tooth, presumably it can damage a jawbone or bridge of the nose as well ?

Are there other ways of taking sensible precautions without a wire lower mask ? balaclava or buffy over the lower face, gaffer tape across the mouth !

 

[RedwolfAirsoftUK]

I have seen a nose broken . Most people lose a tooth just as they are saying something and get hit .

I have had a few damaged knuckles and fingers over the years too

 

[Longshot]

I've met at least six people over the years who have lost all or part of a tooth to BBs.

I wear a wire mesh lower mask.

 

[Mr_awol]

Someone at my site had two teeth broken a couple of months ago. I wasn't there - he just didn't come val after lunch and someone told me what had happened.

I've been shot on the lip by the gun that I believe did it and it wasn't exactly pleasant.

 

[Qlimax]

yeah one person at the site i help to run had two front teeth smashed out and another somehow got his nose broken as well

 

[shaw3029]

Yes!

When I first started playing around 8 years ago I played at a CQB site (always full auto) and at a woodland site. I lost my front tooth while shouting hit at the woodland site from some range. Swallowing a BB and spitting out fragments of tooth is no fun! It exposed the nerve which is very painful and as most of us play airsoft at the weekend your be waiting until Monday to find a dentist.

I had perfect teeth, never had braces or a filling. The dentist was about as gutted as I was. Fortunately he did a superb job and now you wouldn't know. However It took a root canal and 4 or 5 further sessions to fix. I had a metal peg fitted, a mold taken, a temporary tooth (which fell out the next day leaving me looking like a hillbilly for a month) and a permanent tooth fitted. It's a pain in the arse and expensive. Easily the cost of a brand new gun unless you can find a NHS dentist which are rare nowadays.

At the time it hadn't even occurred to me that it could happen. Everyone I knew only wore glasses and half face masks didn't even exist. A few weeks later I saw someone else loose a tooth and after a long hiatus from the sport I started playing again this year and just two weeks ago I saw someone loose another tooth.

I now wear glasses and a half mesh mask. It's not as cool looking, as comfortable or as free with just the glasses on but I will never play without it. If you bend the mask to shape you can get it to fit comfortably. I have also recently attached it to my helmet so I dont have the straps falling down. It stays in place like a dream.

Anyone who says keep your mouth closed is talking ball. You will open your mouth at some point and your lips and cheeks don't provide anywhere near enough protection. At the end of the day it's your choice but I will always wear face protection it just isn't worth the risk.

 

[Finius]

I shot someone's tooth out once (through no fault of my own).

I tend to wear a balaclava for games now, not a thick one, but it should be enough to just sort of soften the blow.

Highly recommend it.

 

[NickM]

I'm a teacher and for me the question for me is put up with the discomfort of the mesh mask on the off chance, or have to explain to the potential 210 kids I teach every day why I'm missing a tooth or have odd shaped bruises on my face.

So its mesh mask on my lower face always for me. And I have seen someone chip a tooth, that was fired from a sub 350 fps gun at about 20 m.

Both my mesh mask and goggles have taken hits so I'm happy its worth it.

 

[jcheeseright]

I have personally seen 3 people lose teeth to BBs in woodland games, a gumshield is an absolute must if you don't want to wear mesh.

 

[Ian_Gere]

In not quite 1.5 years I've seen 1 tooth snapped off at the root, which I wish I'd photographed, and 2 chipped which I did:

T

^^This is Charlie Cooper who is a member here and now wears a steam punk stylee full face mask.

If you're in any doubt that these are real, the meta data ought to show they were taken @Skirmish Airsoft Mansfield (which is actually near Budby).

I have such a phobia of dentistry that I'm at least as scared of losing teeth as of being hit in the eye, so I wear mesh or a neoprene mask. Mesh doesn't make me any hotter: wraps, scarves, balaclavas, and neoprene do. I don't think it's the power of the shot which matters, I think it's because a tooth is a crystaline structure, when it gets hit by something with a polished surface it causes the crystal to shatter along a natural line of weakness. I don't know if any of you have experienced this, but toughened glass can be shattered by a tiny piece of porcelain in the same way.

You don't have to be fly catching or talking to have your mouth open at a skirmish. How about breathing hard? I do it a lot. Oh yeah, and if you can't get your mesh to sit comfortably on your face, like me, you could do this:

 

[two_zero]

Being pretty new to the sport and still in my 'proving myself serious' two month phase, Ive observed that many of the experienced members only use eye protection.

The threat of a chipped tooth is there but do you know anybody first hand who has had the gnashers smashed by a BB ?

Usually your lips protect your teeth surely, unless you spend too much time talking when you should be listening or you're engaged in ferocious CQB?

The chances that the bb would hit the teeth is very unlikely, but it sucks when it does. I had a really close call once, laying down the bbs hit inside by mouth and down my throat, always been wearing face cover since.,

you lip? you serious? try poking your teeth through your lip.. yeah, that's the lip that is suppose to protect your teeth.

I once faceplanted a car and snapped a tooth in half, and the other ones nerves died. after that experience/feeling, I wouldn't think they could stand a bb at 350fps, even if the lip was covering them.

anyway, at the end of the day, is it worth the risk, just so you can look cooler? In my case, nope. your answer might differ.

 

[Sam_G]

I have a mesh mask for cqb games and it attaches to my helmet and is very comfortable.

I took a direct ht to the mouth at the outpost, was from about 5 meters and hurt like hell! The shooter was so worried he had hit a tooth he called himself out to check on me. I was fine, slight fat lip, but no lasting damage.

Only where it for cqb. But then I only really play cqb now.

 

[JameszoBoB]

I have personally seen 3 people lose teeth to BBs in woodland games, a gumshield is an absolute must if you don't want to wear mesh.

That is a great idea! I've never though of using a gum shield before, but now that I think about it, it makes sense.