Featuring Dr. Jeffrey Norden, DMD

Duration: 1 minute, 6 seconds

Sports mouthguards come in three basic varieties. The first one is called a Type 1, which is the one you go and get at your sports store.

They are stock. They don’t fit your teeth. You wear them over your teeth. They don’t fit very well. These aren’t very good, although they’re very cheap. The second type of mouth guard we call a Type 2 or the typical boil and bites. You also get those from your sports equipment store. Typically, you would take those, put them in a pot of boiling water, put them in your mouth and suck on them to try to form them around your teeth.

The most important thing to know about either of these first two types of sports guards is that they’re essentially ineffective. In most of the studies we’ve seen, these type of sports guards work only slightly better than no mouth guard at all.

Which brings me to the third type and the most important and the only type that really works well is a custom-fitted sports mouth guard. We call them a Type 3. These guards are made out of EVA material, which is an ethylene vinyl acetate.

The main thing about these types of sports guards is they’re make off an impression of your teeth, which is poured in a stone model. We then laminate two or three layers of this EVA material onto the model to deliver you a custom-fitted formed mouth guard with at least three millimeters of the EVA material to protect the most vulnerable areas.

The main advantages of the custom-fitted mouth guard is that, number one, it’s going to give you the best ability to breathe doing your sports activity. Number two, it’s also going to allow you the best ability to speak during your sports activity. And number three, it’s going to offer you the best comfort level.

If you’re interested in a custom-fitted sports mouthguard, please contact your dentist.

Presenter: Dr. Jeffrey Norden, General Dentist, Vancouver, BC

Local Practitioners: General Dentist