Are You Using Approved Protection? Make Sure You Read This!

FACT: The American Dental Association and the Academy for Sports Dentistry recommend a professionally made, properly fitted custom mouthguard for all contact and collision sports.

FACT: The Academy for Sports Dentistry states a custom mouthguard is 1000% more protective than any other type of mouthguard.

FACT: The National Athletic Trainers’ Association recently released a new position statement on dental injuries, including recommendations for both mouthguard effectiveness and mouthguard care encouraging athletes to wear “properly fitted mouthguards during sports activities.”

Is your player’s protection recommended by national associations and governing bodies? Here’s what you absolutely need to know about mouthguard recommendations:

The “custom” in custom mouthguards actually refers to the fit. Everyone’s mouth is different and that means mouthguards are only effective when they fit properly. And that all starts with the way the mouthguard is engineered and cut.

According to NATA, properly fitted mouthguards are made out of material that meets approval of the US Food and Drug Administration, are fabricated over a stone model from an impression, and have adequate thickness in all areas.

Proper protection starts with a minimum of 4 mm of material in the important impact zones — the areas in front of the teeth and under the molars. That means there isn’t bulky material where protection isn’t needed. However, these zones change from sport to sport.

For contact sports like football and ice hockey, frontal impact is guarded by the facemask or shield, so mouthguards may have a thinner frontal profile, but feature more protection under the molars. For combat sports like MMA or boxing that take deliberate and frequent impacts to the mouth and face, mouthguards may need a more protective frontal profile.

The biggest and most frequent complaint that athletes have about their mouthguards is that they are bulky and uncomfortable, which restricts breathing and muddles speech. From NATA: “The athlete’s perceived comfort with the mouthguard is critical and of paramount importance for compliance. Noncompliance has been related to bulkiness, stability, hardness, dyspnea, speaking difficulty, oral dryness, and nausea.” But that’s only because they are wearing the wrong mouthguards.

When a mouthguard is cut correctly, there isn’t any unnecessary or unwanted material in places it shouldn’t be. For example, a mouthguard shouldn’t have any material in the soft palate area — the fleshy, flexible part toward the back of the roof of the mouth. Any protective material in the soft palate area doesn’t actually provide protection from injury; it only adds to the weight and discomfort of the mouthguard. Proper fit and cut also allows the mouthguard to stay firmly in place during play eliminating the need to remove the mouthguard. Less touching means less germs — and more comfort!

A proper cut also streamlines the mouthguard as much as possible, by adjusting the thickness in specific areas. It’s important to maintain proper thickness for protection, but anything beyond that could cause uncomfortable gagging.

From design and material, to cut and thickness, there is only one mouthguard that is approved by leaders like NATA: a custom mouthguard. When you want the best protection for your players, make sure it’s approved protection. Do you prefer equipment that is approved by national associations? Let us know in the comments below.

Learn Why Custom Fit Is Recommended

Author Bio

Travis Armideo, marketing manager at Gladiator Custom Mouthguards, is a lifelong ice hockey player. He began playing for various clubs at a young age and continued onto junior teams, while also playing lacrosse at the collegiate level. Travis is still heavily involved in athletics, coaching high school and youth ice hockey athletes, as well as playing men’s league ice hockey on a regular basis.