The Best Protection: Why You Can’t Do Without A Custom Mouthguard

Just about every athlete playing a contact sport — at every level from pee wee to the pros — is required to wear a mouthguard. But do you know why mouthguards are a requirement?

The answer is simple: protection, protection, protection.

But mouthguards aren’t just a minor piece of athletic equipment, and the level of protection they provide varies depending on how they are produced. Not all mouthguards are created equally and it’s extremely important to understand the difference:

1. Protection

Again, the most obvious reason to wear a mouthguard is for protection, as mouthguards are designed to protect athletes against serious oral and facial injuries.

Acting as a shock absorber, a mouthguard keeps the mouth and jaw safe when a player is hit in the head or face. This helps limit the impact on the jaw joint and lowers the chance of dislocations of the jaw. They also help to keep players’ teeth in their mouths.

Over 5 million teeth are knocked out during contact sports each year and the lifetime cost to replace just one tooth is approximately $20,000. While some hockey players may enjoy looking like Bobby Clarke, you certainly don’t need your athletes suffering easily avoidable, permanent damage to their mouths.

2. Better Protection

So, now you know why mouthguards are an important piece of athletic equipment; but do you know how to get the best protection possible from a mouthguard?

With the risk of mouth injury high, both the American Dental Association and the Academy For Sports Dentistry recommend a professionally-made, properly-fitted custom mouthguard for all contact and collision sports. That means a mouthguard that is custom-made to fit the exact individual structure of a player’s mouth.

The intimate fit of a custom mouthguard means players are getting the protection they need, where they need it. And custom mouthguards aren’t just the most effective mouthguard available; they are the most comfortable as well. The same can’t be said about generic boil-and-bite mouthguards.

3. Best Protection

Generic boil-and-bite mouthguards are a thing of the past; literally — they are an outdated, inferior design from the 1960’s. They are chunks of rubber that don’t stay in place and make it difficult for athletes to breath, communicate and concentrate.

Because they are designed to perfectly fit a player’s specific mouth, custom mouthguards allow for optimal airflow and oxygen intake. That doesn’t just make it easier for players to breath and speak, but it actually enhances their performance.

As long as your players are wearing custom mouthguards, they are getting the best protection possible. But only a Gladiator gives you the Protection Program you need — making the ordering process seamless and hassle-free.

Give your players the protection and comfort they need with custom mouthguards from Gladiator Custom Mouthguards, the industry-leader in custom mouthguards.

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.