Is basketball bad for you?

Basketball is closing the gap on rugby as the sport most likely to ruin your smile, ACC statistics show.

Of 2817 sports-related dental claims accepted by ACC last year, rugby took the top spot with 900 claims followed by basketball’s 601 claims.

Rugby league rounded out the top three with 414 claims.

But while rugby in schools slumps, more Kiwi kids are taking up basketball and industry leaders suspect the likes of Steven Adams could be fuelling the uptake.

In 2007, the national sport was still on top but made up nearly half of all ACC’s 3082 sporting dental claims with 1415 – basketball was sat back in third place with 347, behind touch rugby.

ACC paid out $3,714,960 excluding GST in sporting dental claims in 2017.

Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) chief executive Iain Potter had not seen the figures himself but expected the ACC numbers would reflect a recent change in the Kiwi sporting landscape.

Participation levels for basketball were growing at unprecedented levels while numbers playing rugby have been on a downward trend.

The 2017 New Zealand Secondary Schools Sports Council Census showed the number of students playing basketball rose 27 per cent between 2013 and 2017 – to 25,649. Over the same period, rugby union participation dropped 6 per cent and had 26,951 student players.

Potter said growing numbers of basketball players and the physical nature of the sport meant increasing numbers of injuries, dental or otherwise, were inevitable.

‘‘Basketball is a physical game. While in theory, it’s a minimal contact sport, people are jumping for the ball and there are shoulders and elbows flying around so people are [prone to] some degree of injury.’’

BBNZ had joined ACC’s Sportsmart programme to encourage injury prevention.

He said there were many factors influencing the growth of basketball including the success of the Breakers in the Australian National Basketball League and the high profile of Steven Adams.

Basketball was also unique for being popular across cultures and genders.

It was easily accessible with hoops and courts available at many parks and schools.

John Lammas, ACC acting injury prevention portfolio manager, said compulsory mouthguard policies, such as those introduced by rugby in 1998, had dramatically lowered dental claims.

‘‘Since the implementation of compulsory mouthguard use in rugby, there has been a 70 per cent reduction in dental claims.’’

‘‘Basketball is a physical game ... there are shoulders and elbows flying around so people are [prone to] some degree of injury.’’ John Lammas