The most effective way to protect your teeth and jaws while playing contact sports is a sports guard.
A sport mouth guard is made out of a soft acrylic in order to absorb and distribute the forces of an impact.
Ideally, all children and adults should wear a sports guard while playing sports.
There are a few options available on the market:
- custom made by your dentist or,
- over the counter.
The over the counter sport guard comes in a standard size and is meant to be slightly warmed up in hot water prior to wearing in order to help it fit better. However, for a custom made sport guard our dentists will make a mold of your teeth. Due to that, custom sport mouth guards fit better, are more comfortable to wear and they do a better job protecting. We recommend that kids with braces wear sport guard on both upper and lower jaws to prevent injuries to their cheeks and lips.