A sports mouthguard (synonyms: sports mouthguard; mouthguard splint) is a prophylactic (preventive) dental splint made of flexible plastic that should be used primarily when playing contact sports and sports with a risk of falling.
Indications (areas of application)
Up to 39% of all tooth and mouth injuries are caused by sports accidents. In turn, the upper incisors are affected in 80% of cases, and it is not uncommon for these injuries to result in the loss of one or even several teeth. In view of such facts, a preventive mouthguard is an effective and comparatively simple protection. Its protective effect concerns:
- The teeth,
- The oral mucosa,
- The lips,
- The tongue,
- The jaw bones,
- The temporomandibular joints and
- The brain: because if the forces acting on the lower jaw are not cushioned by the relatively soft, elastically deforming splint, the lower jaw will continue to transmit the forces to the skull and thus to the brain. A concussion (Commotio cerebri) can be the result.
The sports mouthguard is usually fitted on the upper teeth. He must cover the gums with, must not interfere with the position of the lower jaw and, of course, must not impair athletic performance. In children, adaptability to the growing dentition and fixed orthodontic appliances is desirable. The DGZMK (German Society for Dental, Oral and Maxillofacial Medicine) recommends wearing a mouthguard splint for the following sports:
- American football
- Baseball
- Basketball
- Boxing and other martial arts
- Ice hockey
- Field field hockey
- Soccer
- Apparatus gymnastics
- Handball
- Inline skating
- Cycling, especially mountain biking
- Horseback riding
- Rugby
- Skate-boarding
- Water polo
The procedures
There are three different options available, which differ in the method and cost of manufacture and the correlating comfort and protective effect:
I: Prefabricated, nonadaptable mouthguards: these are rubber splints from sports retailers that are not individually adaptable to the teeth and must be held in place by clenching. Accordingly, speaking and breathing through the mouth are severely impaired. In addition, the only partial encasement of the teeth results in the comparatively worst protective function. II: Prefabricated, individually adjustable mouthguards: these prefabricated splints from sports shops are so-called thermoplastics, i.e. materials that can be deformed under the influence of heat. The splints become deformable in boiling water and in this state are individually fitted in the mouth. The achievable protective effect is therefore strongly dependent on the quality of the fitting. III: Individually manufactured mouthguard: it offers the highest wearing comfort and, due to the optimal fit, the highest protection. The manufacturing process is as follows:
- Impression of both jaws
- Construction bite to transfer the positional relationship of the maxilla and mandible to the dental laboratory, including a 4-5 mm gap between the maxillary and mandibular incisors in the registration to provide space for the splint material between the teeth
- Making plaster models by pouring the impressions in the dental laboratory;
- Splint fabrication using thermoplastic thermoforming process from 3 to 4 mm thick ethyl vinyl acetate or polyvinyl acetate films.
- Design specifications: Covering the oral mucosa in the vestibule (oral vestibule, space between lips and teeth) up to 2 mm below the fold of the envelope, covering the palate up to 1 cm. Depending on the type of sport, different degrees of softness of the material are chosen. The mouthguard has a relief on the side facing away from the upper teeth, in which the lower teeth occlude (bite), without negatively affecting the position of the lower jaw.
- Incorporate and fit control and care instructions by the dentist.
Since all splints are made of thermoplastic (deformable by heat) material, cleaning with hot water is prohibited. For maintenance are recommended, for example, rinsing agent (no toothpaste!)and toothbrush as well as storing the dried splint dry in a ventilated container.