What are sports mouthguards?

Sports (athletic) mouthguards are plastic dental appliances which when worn can provide a degree of protection for both the mouth's soft tissues (lips, cheeks, gums, tongue) and hard tissues (teeth and jaw bones). While all guards are made of plastic their specific design, composition, and method of fabrication vary. In general there are three types of sports mouthpieces: stock, boil and bite, and custom.

What are some of the specific types of benefits that a sports mouthpiece can be expected to provide?

While most of the mouth protections that an athletic guard can provide are easy enough to imagine others are not so obvious. Here is a listing of some of the different services a mouth protector can be expected to offer:

A) Sports mouthguards can help prevent tooth fracture, tooth dislocation, and bone (jaw) fracture.

This might be the first type of protection that comes to a person's mind when they think of the purpose of an athletic mouthguard. Direct blows to the mouth and teeth (created by baseballs, footballs, elbows, the ground, etc...) can be cushioned by the presence of a mouthguard. The resilience of a guard can absorb a portion of a force directed to the mouth. The stiffness of a guard can help to distribute a force over a greater surface area. Both of these actions can help to prevent damage to an athlete's teeth and jaw bones.

A custom mouthguard protector.

When considering the various types of incidents that might cause harm to a person's teeth one must not overlook the potential for tooth damage that is caused by a traumatic event that has brought an athlete's jaws together forcibly. This type of event certainly has the potential to cause tooth damage. The resilience of that portion of a sports mouthpiece that covers the chewing surface of the wearer's teeth can significantly cushion the effects of this type of incident.

Closely related to the topic of preventing tooth damage is the prevention of damage to an athlete's existing dental work. Items such as dental crowns, bridges, porcelain veneers, and dental implants could all conceivably be irreparably damaged by a forceful blow to the mouth.

B) Sports guards can help to prevent bruising or laceration of the soft tissues of the mouth.

Teeth are hard, sharp objects and any object striking a person's face has the potential to force the soft tissues of the mouth up against them or between them, thus resulting in bruising or laceration. Sports mouth protectors can act as a buffer and therefore help to minimize the effects of mouth trauma. The rounded contours of a comparatively soft mouthguard can help to protect lips, cheeks, and even the tongue to some degree. A mouthguard protector worn over braces.

A mouthguard protector worn over braces.

It seems inconceivable that a person who has braces (is undergoing orthodontic treatment) would even consider participating in any sort of sporting activity without wearing a mouth protector. The potential for lip and cheek laceration being so ripe in this instance that its occurrence might almost be regarded as a certainty.

For those athletes who have missing teeth the plastic of a custom formed mouthguard can fill in and surround their remaining teeth, thus providing the support that they need. This means that a removable dental appliance such as a partial denture can be left out, thus avoiding any potential for damage to it or from it.

C) Wearing a mouthguard may help to protect an athlete from concussions.

Some studies have suggested that wearing a mouthguard can help to reduce the incidence or severity of concussions. Forces delivered to the jaw bones will be transmitted on to the skull bones that surround a person's brain, thus producing the potential for concussion. A mouthguard can buffer these transmissions by way of partially absorbing and then also dispersing them. The theory is that this effect can lessen the intensity of the forces of the blow and therefore the likelihood that concussion will occur.

D) Sports mouth protectors can provide a psychological benefit for an athlete.

You could spin the argument that wearing a sports guard could provide a psychological edge for an athlete. An athlete might feel more confident and aggressive when they know they have proper mouth protection.

We'd probably prefer to portray a less combative psychological benefit of sports mouthguards. The appearance of one's smile plays an important role in human relationships. Dental trauma that has not been treated, or has but the resulting dental work is in some way is less than ideal, can easily affect a person's confidence in social situations. Beyond just simple embarrassment this lack of confidence could easily lead to avoidance of social contacts and the benefits that they provide.

What sporting activities require the protection of a mouthguard?

There are a number of sports where it should be painfully obvious to the participant that a mouth protector should be worn. Clearly boxing would be such a case, but there are other examples as well.

While watching professional football on TV you've probably caught a glimpse of the sports guards that these players wear. As you know football is a helmeted sport and a direct blow to a player's teeth, jaws, or mouth is not an expected event. Of course helmets can come off, but actually the most likely cause of tooth damage for a football player would be a collision that resulted in their teeth coming together forcibly. In this case the portion of a mouthguard that covers the chewing surface of the player's teeth can cushion the effects of this type of event and help to prevent tooth damage.

A sports injury that could have been prevented with a mouthguard.

A sports injury that could have been prevented with a mouthguard.

So clearly athletes participating in contact sports (sports where player to player contact is a regular and expected part of the sporting event) should protect their mouth with a guard. Football, boxing, ice hockey, lacrosse, field hockey, roller hockey, soccer, rugby, basketball, martial arts, water polo, and wrestling should all be considered sports where the use of a mouth protector is paramount.

Other sports, while not being true contact sports, can still provide ample potential for collisions with objects or other athletes. Participants in handball, racquetball, baseball, skateboarding, rollerblading, skiing, skydiving, squash, surfing, volleyball, gymnastics, acrobatics, tennis, and bicycling should all make a point of obtaining and wearing mouth protection.