Sports Mouthguards

According to the American Dental Association, more than 200,000 oral injuries are prevented annualy by sports mouthguards. While this is an impressive figure, it is estimated by the National Youth Sports Foundation that more than 5 million teeth will be knocked out in sporting activities this year. These oral traumas will happen to children, high school and college level athletes. In fact, dental injuries are the most common type of orofacial injury sustained during participation in sports.

The benefits of sports mouthguard protection has been well documented. In 1995 Dr. Raymond Flander's study on the high incidence of oral injuries showed that in football, where mouthguards are mandatory, only 0.07% of all injuries involved teeth and the oral cavity. Conversely, in basketball where mouthguards are not worn, 34% of all injuries to players involved teeth and/or the oral cavity. Obviously dental injuries could also be significantly reduced if children, teenagers and adults involved in the following sports wore custom fabricated mouthguards: soccer, volleyball, baseball, softball, rollerblading, skateboarding, martial arts, boxing, hockey, kickboxing and mountain biking.

According to Dr. Ray Padilla, an active member in the Academy for Sports Dentistry, the lifetime dental rehabilitation costs can approach several thousand dollars per tooth, for the child or athelete who looses tooth (or teeth) in a sporting injury. This does not include the associated costs of hours in the dental office and the possible development of periodontal disease. The total rehabilitation costs for a single knocked-out tooth are 20 times the preventive cost for a custom laminated, professional grade mouthguard.

Dentist fabricated sports mouthguards differ from stock or boil and bite type mouthguards typically found in sports good stores. Bite and boil type mouthguards do not fit as accurately as custom fabricated types so they are often uncomfortable and frequently interfere with the athletes breathing and speaking ability.