Sports Mouthguards: What Actually Protects Your Teeth

Minor hockey fills the arenas again in the fall, rugby and lacrosse follow in the spring, and the trails around Cumberland stay busy all year. If you have a kid in the Comox Valley, there is a reasonable chance that at some point they will take a puck, an elbow, or a set of handlebars to the face. A mouthguard is the least expensive piece of protective equipment in the bag, and it is also the piece most likely to be sitting at the bottom of that bag, forgotten.

The reason is almost always comfort. A guard that is bulky, that makes talking difficult, or that has to be held in place by clenching will not get worn consistently, no matter how many reminders you give. So the practical question is not whether mouthguards work, because they do. It is which kind actually gets worn.

What a Mouthguard Does During an Impact

A mouthguard works in two ways. First, it puts a layer of resilient material between the teeth and whatever hits them, spreading the force of a blow across a wider area instead of concentrating it on one or two front teeth. Second, it keeps the upper and lower teeth from slamming into each other, which is what causes many chipped and fractured teeth in contact sports. The impact does not have to come from the front. A hit to the chin drives the lower jaw upward, and without a guard, the back teeth take that force directly.

The upper front teeth are the most commonly injured teeth in sport, and they are the teeth with the longest consequences. A knocked out or badly fractured permanent front tooth at age twelve can mean decades of restorations, replacements, and eventually an implant. A guard does not eliminate that risk, but it reduces it substantially, and it is a small investment against an expensive problem.

The Three Types, Honestly Compared

Stock guards come preformed in small, medium, and large. They are cheap and available at any sporting goods store, and that is close to the entire list of advantages. Because they are not fitted to the individual mouth, they have to be held in place by biting down, which interferes with speech and breathing. We do not recommend them beyond an emergency stopgap.

Boil-and-bite guards are the ones most people have used. You soften the guard in hot water, bite into it, and it takes a rough impression of your teeth. These are a real improvement over stock guards and they are far better than nothing. The limitations are that the fit is only as good as the moulding process, the material tends to thin out over the biting surfaces exactly where thickness is needed most, and they lose their shape over a season of use. For a young child in a low contact sport, a well moulded boil-and-bite guard is a reasonable choice.

Custom guards are made from an impression or a digital scan of your actual teeth. We use a digital intraoral scanner, which means no impression trays, and the guard is fabricated to a consistent thickness across the areas that need it. A custom guard stays in place without clenching, which means you can talk and breathe normally, and that is the single biggest predictor of whether it gets worn. They cost more than a drugstore guard and they are worth it for anyone in a high contact sport, anyone who has already had dental work on their front teeth, and anyone who has abandoned a boil-and-bite guard because it was uncomfortable. Custom guards are part of our preventive and family care, and they can be made in a range of colours, which matters more to a fourteen year old than you might expect.

Kids, Teens, and Braces

Children's mouths change quickly. Permanent teeth erupt, jaws grow, and a guard that fit well in September may not fit by spring. This is worth checking at each recall appointment rather than assuming. For younger children with a mix of baby and permanent teeth, a regularly replaced boil-and-bite guard can be the more practical option, since the fit will change anyway.

If your teen has braces, a mouthguard is not optional. An impact against brackets can cause significant soft tissue injury to the lips and cheeks. Orthodontic mouthguards are made from a more flexible material and are designed to accommodate the brackets and allow for tooth movement. Do not use a standard boil-and-bite guard over braces, because moulding it around the brackets can interfere with treatment and the guard can lock onto the appliance.

Which Sports Warrant One

Hockey, rugby, football, lacrosse, boxing, and martial arts are the obvious ones, and most leagues mandate guards already. The less obvious list is longer: basketball and soccer produce a high number of dental injuries from elbows and collisions, and mountain biking, skateboarding, and skiing all carry real risk of facial impact. If a sport involves speed, hard surfaces, or other people's elbows, a guard is worth considering.

Care and Replacement

Rinse the guard in cool water after every use and let it dry fully before storing it in a vented case. Hot water and hot cars warp the material permanently. Clean it occasionally with a soft brush and mild soap rather than toothpaste, which is abrasive enough to scratch the surface. Bring it to your cleaning appointments so we can check the fit. Most guards need replacing every season or two, sooner for growing children.

If an Injury Happens Anyway

No guard prevents every injury. If a permanent tooth is knocked out, the first thirty minutes matter enormously: handle the tooth by the crown rather than the root, rinse it gently with milk or saline if it is dirty, and either reinsert it in the socket or keep it in milk while you get to a dentist. We keep time open for same day dental emergencies, and our guide to dental emergencies covers what to do in the first few minutes for the most common injuries.

One clarification worth making: a sports mouthguard and a nightguard for grinding are not interchangeable. They are built from different materials for different forces, a sports guard for sudden impact and a nightguard for sustained clenching. If you are dealing with both, you need both. Our post on teeth grinding and bruxism covers the nightguard side of that.