Sports Mouth Guard
A sports mouth guard is a flexible, plastic piece of equipment that covers your teeth and is used to help minimize the risk of injury to the face, jaw, and head during contact sports. In doing so, sports mouth guards can preserve the appearance and overall health of your smile. This type of mouthguard is recommended for anyone playing or practicing in physical sports, especially those that involve direct, physical contact (e.g., hockey, football, lacrosse).
If your child tends to grind their teeth at night (i.e., bruxism), mouthguards are also a suitable option to prevent any damage to your child’s teeth that may result from this behaviour.
Mouthguards have been shown to:
- Reduce trauma to the teeth, gums, and surrounding jawbone
- Decrease injury to the temporomandibular joints (TMJ)
- Decrease the intensity and number of head concussions
Types of mouthguards
Stock-made / Ready-made
Ready-made, as the name suggests, are pre-made mouthguards. These are not commonly used mouthguards as they can be uncomfortable and limited in preventing injury as they do not necessarily fit well.
Despite their suboptimal protection against trauma that can be experienced during physical sports, ready-made mouthguards are much less expensive than custom-made or boil-and-bite mouthguards. Thus, this type of mouthguard presents a cost-effective option for children that are just beginning to play sports or for sports that are considered low risk in terms of physical contact.
Boil-and-bite mouthguards
The downside to ready-made mouthguards is that they do not provide a custom-fit to you or your child’s teeth. This significantly limits the amount of protection they can provide against trauma induced by physical contact. Fortunately, boil-and-bite mouthguards can be provided by our dentists at Aura Dental, which can increase the amount of protection for you and/or your child.
As stated, boil-and-bite mouthguards are made out of a moldable material that is placed in boiling water and molded to the teeth. The material is heated by the boiling water, is left to cool for a brief amount of time, and then molded to the teeth by biting down and forming a custom-made fit around the teeth structure. After letting the molded material cooldown, the mouthguard retains its shape is a suitable option for amateur-level sportspeople.
Custom-made mouthguards
Custom-made sports guards are the safest and best option to maintain your overall smile and to reduce injuries. At Aura Dental, our dentists can help you create a custom-made mouthguard out of a substance known as dental putty. To do this, our dentist will ask you to bite down on the dental putty which will create an impression, or mold, of your teeth arrangement. This impression is then sent to a dental laboratory where specialists construct a custom-made mouthguard based on your teeth arrangement provided by the impression.
What are some things a sports mouth guard can protect against?
In addition to preventing the effects of direct impact or trauma on tooth damage, sports mouth guards can significantly mitigate the prevalence of:
- Traumatic brain injury
- Tongue, lip, and cheek lesions
- Tooth and jawbone fractures
- Gum and soft tissue injury
- Concussions
Call us today at (204) 560-4500 if you are interested in purchasing a sports mouth guard to protect you and/or your child’s teeth from injury during low-, medium-, and high-risk sporting activities!
Our dentists will gladly discuss the options and consult you on the best option based on the level of risk associated with the sport and/or activity you or your child are participating in.
