Custom made Versus “one size fits all” Chemist mouthguards?

If your child is participating in a sport where there is a risk of contact to the face, the only way to prevent, or reduce the severity of an injury, is to wear a firm fitting mouthguard. It is preferable that they wear a custom fitted mouthguard (made by a dentist) which will be much safer and more comfortable than a store-bought, prefabricated mouthguard (chemist, sports stores). A custom made mouthguard is designed specifically for each individual patient’s jaw shape and teeth. It is the most effective type of mouthguard to absorb the shock experienced by a blow to the face.

It is important that they have the mouthguard before they start training for the sport, as most accidents that we see unfortunately happen during practise or training.

There is nothing quite as frightening for a parent as a phone call from the school or sporting club to say that your child has been injured. Injuries to the face and mouth can be very painful not to mention expensive. As a dental practice in the local area we have noticed an increase in the number of children presenting with trauma to their teeth and mouths due to sporting and playground incidents.

The good news is there is several things you can do to prevent an injury. The most important of these is a custom made mouthguard. NB Dental believes it is so important to have a custom made mouthguard that we want to make it as affordable as possible for our patients. A short 15 minute appointment with us is all that is required to take a mould of your teeth. It then takes a week for the mouthguard to be made. Contact us to find out more!

It is important to check the fit of your mouthguard on a yearly basis for adults and 6 monthly for children. Our children’s mouths are growing and changing all the time and a mouthguard that fitted snuggly last season may not fit anymore. Any adult mouthguard should be checked before every sporting season to ensure it still fits effectively and comfortably. With children’s mouths and jaws growing and changing a mouthguard will need replacement more frequently.