You know how your mom used to say “It’s all fun and games until someone pokes out an eye?” How about “It’s all fun and games until someone degloves their chin.” Sound painful? That’s exactly what happened to one of our patients that came to see us following an electric scooter accident he had the night before. After catching the scooter’s front wheel on a crack in the sidewalk, he was sent flying face first into a parked car. Attached are some photographs of his emergency visit to our office. Not only did he break his two front teeth, but also managed to “deglove” his chin, meaning that he completely separated the soft tissue from his jaw, exposing the bone. Luckily for him, we were able manage his injuries without sending him to the ER, thanks to the help of Dr. Novak from Cherry Creek Oral Surgery down the hall.

Many are not so lucky. According to the Washington Post, there has been a significant increase in scooter related injuries presenting in the ER of about 116% in the past year. At first, doctors recall occasionally seeing these injuries in the ER, whereas now they claim to treat these traumas on a daily basis. Health professionals are even comparing the types of injuries they’re seeing to those typically sustained in a motor vehicle accident such as broken bones, facial lacerations, and skull fractures resulting from blunt force head trauma. So although these scooters might give the illusion of being a safe and easy way to get around urban areas, health professionals are strongly discouraging their use based on the health and safety risks the pose to anyone who rides them.