Sports Mouthguards

Sports dentistry covers the prevention and treatment of oral and facial injuries incurred by participants competing in any sporting event. While injuries like these are common, especially those to the mouth, teeth, and jaw, many can be avoided or minimized with the use of a properly fitted sports mouthguard.

Our Metro Detroit family dentists know from experience that mouthguards are not only essential for football players, boxers, and hockey players. Athletes in many other sports such as soccer, volleyball, baseball, wrestling, and lacrosse also experience unnecessary injuries to their teeth, mouth, and jaw that can be prevented by wearing a mouthguard created by one of our dentists.

The overall cost of repairing a tooth well exceeds the minor cost of a well-fitted mouthguard. Our dentists can ensure the proper fit and function of your custom mouthguard to help prevent costly and debilitating oral or facial injuries during sports participation.

Benefits of Sports Mouthguards

Dental mouthguards are worn over your upper teeth to protect against injury while you play. A mouthguard should be sturdy, durable, secure, easy to clean, comfortable, tear-resistant, and allow for easy breathing and talking. We will create a custom sports mouthguard designed to protect your teeth from a contact injury to your mouth or facial area.

There are three types of mouthguards:

• Stock: A basic mouthguard is inexpensive, comes ready to wear, and can be found at sporting good stores. These pre-formed mouthguards are uncomfortable and provide minimal protection. They also disrupt breathing and make it difficult to talk. Since you can’t adjust them to fit properly, we don’t recommend this type of mouth protection.
• Boil and Bite: These guards fit better than stock mouthguards and are made from thermoplastic material. This is because you soften them in hot water before biting into the material so it’s molded to your teeth.
• Vacuum or Laminate-Pressed: These are custom-fitted in a dental office or lab based on the dentist’s instructions. First, we’ll take impressions of your teeth and mold a mouthguard over the model using a special material. Due to the materials used and precise tooling required to ensure proper fit, these mouthguards cost more but offer more comfort and protection.

The generic stock or “boil and bite” mouthguards bought at sporting good stores do not offer adequate support for an athlete’s teeth. Everyone’s teeth have unique characteristics. Age, gender, sport, competition level, and position all play important roles in the type of mouthguard you need to properly protect your teeth and jaw.

If you wear braces or another fixed dental appliance, our dentists will create a mouthguard for your lower teeth as well.