According to the American Dental Association, more than 200,000 oral injuries are prevented annually by athletic (sports) mouthguards. While this is an impressive estimate, unfortunately according to the National Youth Sports Foundation, more than 5 million teeth will be lost this year in sports activities. It is for this reason that we added the custom fabrication of mouthguards as one of the many services we provide in our practice. We would like to prevent or at the very least minimize the number of teeth lost during sports activities.

There are three kinds of mouthguards and the range of protection they provide varies greatly. They are as follows: a) Stock mouthguards- these are best described as least effective, not too many choices in size but the cheapest. The best they provide is a false sense of security. b) boil and bite- as the name implies, these are form by placing a pre-sized thermoplastic material in boiling water to soften it up and then placing it in the mouth. It is then formed by biting the teeth in occlusion and shaped by movement of the tongue and cheeks. These types of mouthguards do not provide maximum protection because uncontrolled biting pressure produces varied thickness particularly in the biting surfaces. But, they are  at least better than stock mouthguards in terms of protection. c) custom fabricated mouthguards- These are made by dentists from molds made out of impressions of the teeth. Since they are made in the lab, their thickness , anatomical shape and form can be monitored thus giving them the ability to fit perfectly. Custom mouthguards are made either by "vacuum forming" or "pressure lamination". Custom mouthguards are the ones we highly recommend for our patients involved in sports.