subject: Choosing The Right Mouth Guard To Protect Your Teeth During Sports [print this page] If you have play sports of any kind, your teeth can easily be traumatized in rough play if you do not have a proper protection for them. By wearing a mouth guard, you could greatly decrease your chance or injury, or even remove it all together.
A mouth protector is a flexible, custom fitted device worn over teeth during athletic and recreational activities, or even sleep, to protect them from damage. A good-fitting shield may be especially important if you wear braces, have fixed anterior bridgework, or just want to protect your teeth/smile from potential trauma.
After all, they can buffer damage to the teeth, the brackets, and/or other fixed appliances from blows and physical contact. They can also act as a barrier between teeth/braces and the cheeks, between the lips and tongue, thereby limiting the risk of soft tissue damage.
Generally, they only covers the upper teeth. However, dentists may suggest that athletes with a protruding jaw or those who wear braces or other dental appliances (such as retainers, bridgework or have implant-supported dentures) on their lower jaw wear a mouth guard on their lower teeth.
Currently, the U.S. National Collegiate Athletic Association requires the use of mouth guards only for ice hockey, lacrosse, field hockey, and football. However, the American Dental Association recommends the use of a mouth guard for 29 sports/exercise activities.
These include the four activities already mentioned, plus acrobatics, basketball, boxing, discus throwing, gymnastics, handball, martial arts, racquetball, rugby, shot putting, skateboarding, skiing, skydiving, soccer, squash, surfing, volleyball, water polo, weightlifting, and wrestling. Essentially, whenever there is a chance of contact with other players or hard surfaces, wearing one makes sense.
For professional advice about how to protect your teeth during athletic activities, talk to your dentist or orthodontist about selecting one that will provide the best protection for your particular needs. Since it is not mandatory for athletes, amateur or professional, many do not wear one because of fit, comfort, image (notion that it's not "cool" to wear one), and complaints of impaired speaking.
Not realizing the real safety value of mouth guards, some coaches do not reinforce the advantages of wearing them to their athletes, and neither do some parents, who are sometimes not fully aware of the level of contact and potential for serious dental injuries involved in their children's sports. Gender bias may also play a role, since there are people who mistakenly think that female athletes are less aggressive, less at-risk of injury and, therefore, less likely to need a one.
Although they come in various price ranges, cost may be another consideration limiting their use, especially for custom-fitted kinds. The "hassle" factor - remembering to wear them, properly caring for them, and dealing with the inconvenience of impaired breathing or speech - also contributes to non-use.
They are typically available in three types. Stock mouth guards, which can be purchased in sporting goods and drug stores, come pre-formed and ready to wear.
Although they are the least expensive, they are also the worst fitting and least comfortable or protective. Made of rubber or polyvinyl, these pre-formed guards can be bulky, increase the tendency to gag, and make breathing and talking difficult because they require the jaw to be closed to hold them in place.
Mouth-formed ones can be either a shell liner or a boil-and-bite kind. The first type is lined with acrylic gel or rubber that molds to the teeth and sets to keep its shape.
The second type, made of thermoplastic, is placed in boiling water then formed and molded to the contours of the teeth using the fingers, lips, tongue, and biting pressure. Boil-and-bite kinds can be reheated and refitted if the fit isn't comfortable initially.
Both types are available online, and at sporting goods and drug stores. While they do provide a better fit than stock kinds, they can be bulky and do not offer the same fit and protection as a custom-fitted ones.
Custom-fitted ones are more expensive than the other types, but they provide the greatest degree of fit, comfort, and protection because they are made from a cast to precisely fit your teeth. Your dentist makes an impression of your teeth and a dental laboratory technician - either in the dentist's office or at an off-site dental laboratory - uses the impression as a mold to create the custom-fitted piece.
To learn more about the kind that would be right for you, or even how to create one, research on the internet. Better to prevent than treat later!
