Mouth guards: sports mouthguards / football protectors / athletic mouthpieces

What are some of the characteristics that a mouthguard should have?

Here's a listing of some of the qualities that a good sports mouthguard should possess:

A) The mouthguard should fit well and be comfortable to wear.

Two of the most important characteristics that a mouthguard can possess are that it is comfortable to wear and that it stays in place well. If an athlete's guard is bulky, irritates their teeth or the soft tissues of their mouth, or does not have good retention then it is likely that they will not wear it, or at least not wear it all of the time. If a mouthguard is uncomfortable an athlete may try to adjust it by way of trimming off some of the guard's plastic. Any portion of a mouthguard that is trimmed away may compromise the level of protection that the guard provides.

Athletes are sometimes critical of wearing their sports mouthguards because they say they have trouble speaking or breathing when they wear them. It is quite possible that both of these troubles stem from the same problem, the fit of the mouthguard. If the guard does not have good retention then athlete will tend to hold it in place by way of clenching their teeth. It is this constant clenching action that makes it difficult for them to speak and breath.

B) Considerations associated with the style and shape of the mouthguard.

Most sports mouthpieces are designed so they only cover over the athlete's upper teeth and jaw. The characteristics of a person's upper and lower jaws are quite different. The lower jaw is capable of a wide range of motion. This means that when a blow lands on the jaw or teeth some of the force of the blow will be buffered by the jaw's reactive motion. In contrast the upper jaw is fixed in position. A relatively greater portion of the force of the blow will have to be directly absorbed by the teeth and jaw bone. This difference in anatomy, the way the upper jaw is fixed in position, is one reason why a person's center two upper teeth are the most likely teeth to be damaged by an accident.

Some mouthguards are designed so they cover over both the upper and lower jaws. This design does provide a greater level of protection for the lower teeth and may possibly provide greater protection for the jaw joint. In some instances this type of mouthpiece can be relatively more uncomfortable to wear and therefore an athlete may not use it as consistently as a single arch guard. Clearly dual coverage mouthguards can be a good idea for those athletes who are undergoing orthodontic treatment (wear braces) and therefore require lip and cheek protection from their brackets and wires.

The outline form of a mouthguard should include that it covers over all of the athlete's posterior (back) teeth (there is some debate regarding the necessity to cover over the wisdom teeth if they have erupted). Some studies have suggested that mouthguards that fail to cover over a significant number of the posterior teeth can place the athlete's lower jaw at greater risk of fracture.

C) Thickness, resiliency, and stiffness considerations for sports mouthpieces.

Clearly different sporting activities have differing potential for placing their participants at risk of experiencing a traumatic blow. It's easy to imagine that a football player would be expected to have a greater likelihood of experiencing tooth or mouth trauma than a tennis player. Along this same line of thought, it is customary that the design (primarily thickness considerations) of a sports guard should be based on the type of sport that the wearer will be participating in.

Athletes that participate in sports that do not entail a high degree of physical contact may achieve satisfactory protection from a mouthguard that is on the order of 1/16th of an inch (2mm) or so in thickness. Heavier contact sports (such as football) would necessitate the design of a thicker mouthguard, more along the lines of 1/8th of an inch (4mm) or more. A thicker guard yet would be required for those athletes participating the heaviest of contact sports such as boxing.

The resiliency of the plastic chosen for a mouthguard needs to be of some consideration. The plastic's sponginess can be expected to help to absorb a portion of the force delivered by a traumatic blow. Equally important if a mouthguard isn't somewhat flexible it may be quite irritating to the soft tissues of the mouth when it is worn. The rigidity of a guard may have more to do with the level of protection that it can provide than the guard's spongy resilience. The stiffness of a sports mouthpiece will allow it to help distribute a delivered blow over a larger surface area, thus buffering the amount of direct force any one tooth or mouth area is subjected to.