Sports Mouth Guards
Austin, TX
 Here at South Austin Dental, we will be more than happy to help you with sports mouth guards. While regularly engaging in athletic activity has great health benefits, it can also pose several risks. High impact sports, in particular, pose the risk of damaging teeth, producing facial lacerations and causing bone damage. One of the ways athletes protect themselves is by using mouth guards. Our mouth guards are made specifically to help athletes prevent or at least reduce teeth and bone injury.
They are made to perfectly fit the maxillary bone and thus protect athletes in a wide variety of contact sports. They protect the mouth, helping distribute the pressure of shocks and hits equally throughout the maxillary. Our mouth guards also often contain an orifice through which the athlete can breathe and are made to fit the mouth and teeth comfortably.
Mouth guards come in multiple variants and are made from different materials. An important difference is between stock mouth guards and mouth guards which are fit by first boiling and then biting to ensure a perfect fit. Custom made mouth guards are more expensive and require additional expertise, but can also provide better results and protection, being ideal for performance athletes.
Stock mouth guards are cheaper and can be made from materials such as rubber or silicone. Boil-and-bite mouth guards cost more but are also made from higher quality materials and provide the wearer with more comfort and protection. They are often made from EVA, which is a thermosensitive plastic that adapts to fit the wearer’s mouth.
Our team will be happy to advise on different types of mouth guards and which are best suited to you.
Custom Mouth Guards
Besides stock mouth guards and boil-and-bite mouth guards, sports mouth guards can also be completely custom-made by our experienced team. These can have either a single thermoplastic layer or multiple layers in pressure-laminated mouth guards. These are the highest quality mouth guards available on the market and are ideal for performance athletes who require the very best. Unlike boil-and-bite mouth guards, these are also fairly thin and cause a little discomfort, enabling the athlete to move freely, without having to worry about dentition.
Another advantage provided by custom-made mouth guards is that they can be adapted to the player’s characteristics and to the sport they are playing. For instance, while some sports such as football or basketball predispose the player to front teeth injury, others like skiing pose more risks to the occlusal area. Mouth guards are thus ideally tailored and adapted to the specific player and sport they are playing.
Furthermore, there is evidence that mouth guards do not only protect teeth but can also protect from head injury, for instance by reducing the incidence of concussions. Studies show that through the use of mouth guards, impact energy is better distributed, resulting in fewer injuries and bone fractures. Such a study in 2014 has shown players that do not use mouth guards to have as much as 100% higher risk of sustaining concussion injury.
If you would like to know more about sports mouth guards, then contact South Austin Dental at (512) 441-8922 today. |
