[Uwh-announce] Snorkels- Warning

[Glenn Wickham]

Dear Players
We have now had two incidents in the last 6 months of players having their front teeth broken when playing Underwater Hockey. In one case the player hit his face on the bottom of the pool, in the other she had an internal mouth guard in and was kicked. Neither where a case where teeth should have been broken.

In both cases they were using the snorkels with the hard jutting out purge valve in front of the mouth. I believe the reason the teeth broke is that type of snorkel transmits the force straight back onto the teeth in a narrow area.

If you have these snorkels please think about getting ones with a soft part in front of the teeth. A mouth guard may not save you.

In addition, it is highly recommended that you fit an external mouthguard to your snorkel AS WELL as wearing an internal one.  Once fitted properly to a snorkel you do not notice they are there and provide an extra layer of protection.  (You cannot fit one of these to centre purge valve snorkel though)

Sandra

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