Mouth Guards
If you play contact sports or engage in certain other activities, you may be at risk for damaging your mouth and teeth. Fortunately, you can protect your teeth and mouth by using a mouth guard.
Why Do I Need a Mouth Guard?
About 2 million teeth are lost during sporting competitions each year, according to the American Dental Association. Missing teeth can ruin the cosmetic appeal of your smile, of course, but they can also prevent you from eating your favorite foods or speaking clearly. What’s more, the teeth next to the missing tooth can drift into the gap it left behind, creating crooked teeth. Mouth guards can reduce your risk for knocked out or fractured teeth while playing sports.
Mouth guards also help prevent other oral injuries associated with sports or physical activities. These injuries may include lacerations (cuts) to the tongue, cheeks, or other tissues, for example.
Even if you don’t play sports, you may benefit from wearing a mouth guard at night. If you are like 6 percent of adults in the United States, you grind your teeth at night in a condition known as bruxism. When you grind your teeth at night, you may impart 250 pounds of force onto your teeth, and this excessive force can cause fractured teeth, jaw pain, and headaches. A mouth guard protects your teeth by creating a cushion between your upper and lower teeth.
History of the Mouth Guard
The exact origin of mouth guards is unclear, but the first recorded use was by professional boxers. In fact, boxing became the first sport to require mouth guards in the 1920s. With the support of the American Dental Association (ADA), lawmakers mandated the use of mouth guards by high school football teams in 1962. Today, the US National Collegiate Athletic Association requires the use of mouth guards for four sports: ice hockey, lacrosse, field hockey and football.
The ADA recommends the use of mouth guards for 29 sports or exercise activities, including:
- Basketball and softball
- Boxing
- Martial Arts
- Rugby
- Football
- Soccer
- Water polo
- Hockey (Ice and Field)
- Wrestling
- Skateboarding
- Skiing
- Bicycling
What are Mouth Guards?
Also known as mouth protectors or mouthguards, mouth guards are oral appliances that protect your mouth and teeth. While some generic mouth guards are available at big box stores, they are less comfortable than custom-fit guards and may not offer the protection.
Dental professionals can prescribe and create custom-fit mouth guards that are comfortable, durable, and most importantly, effective. Dentists may make mouth guards to protect teeth during sports or to prevent nighttime teeth grinding – they use different processes, depending on their intended use.
The process is simple: your dentist will make a detailed mold of your mouth and teeth. They’ll then send this mold to a laboratory, which will use the mold to create a personalized mouth guard. They typically use polyethylene-polyvinylacetate copolymer (EVA), which allows hard and soft layers within the mouth guard.
The materials are thermodynamic, which means the plastic is superheated to precise specifications then cooled. This process creates an extremely durable and comfortable mouth guard.
Benefits of Mouth Guards
Both sports and nighttime mouth guards provide a wide variety of benefits. The benefits of wearing a mouth guard for sports include:
- Reduced risk of concussions resulting from impacts to the lower jaw
- Protecting teeth from being knocked out or fractured
- Providing a comfortable fit, so you can breathe and speak comfortably and naturally
- Preventing jaw fractures by creating a cushion between upper and lower jaw
- Meeting all sports regulations for both high school and collegiate sports
Benefits of wearing a mouth guard, also known as a sleep guard, at night include:
- Better sleep
- Less snoring
- Reduced risk of tooth damage from teeth grinding
- Less pain
- Protection or treatment of temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain
The earliest mouth guards were very large and bulky, and today’s one-size-fits-all “boil and bite” mouth guards are not much better. The mouth guards you get from a dentist are entirely different. Because they are precisely made, custom mouth guards provide you with optimal safety and the most comfort possible. Custom-fitted mouth guards offer unrivaled levels of protection, and their snug shape hugs each tooth to eliminate all unwanted movements – all without the need for adjustments.
For more information on customized mouth guards and their benefits, please contact our dentist in Kettering today. We create mouth guards for sports and for night use, and are always glad to make one just for you. Connect with us today.