What is a mouth guard? 

Injuries during sports activities are inevitable and thus most of the players use certain safety measures to protect and prevent from permanent damage to any organ during the sports activity. Mouth guard is one such protector that protects the smile or the set of teeth of a player from any permanent damage or injury like a breakage or a loss of a tooth, etc. Sports mouth guards can hence be termed as teeth protectors for players. They are mostly important in sports related to physical contact like boxing, football, rugby, etc. cases, knowing what exactly sports mouth guards are or a mouth guard for that matter is simply a cushioned and flexible teeth protector that functions like a crash barrier.

Advantages or benefits of using a sports mouth guard 

• It functions like a shock absorber and when a player faces a hard hit, the mouth guard lessens the force of the hit and hence protects from major dental injury and even lessens the pain felt.

• A player is less exposed to a dental injury if he uses a mouth guard during sports activity.

• It is said to be beneficial for most of the sports even those that are non-contact sports because they even protect you from biting your lips or tongue in excitement and other such things that you tend to do during a sports activity.

Once you are convinced about using sports mouth guards then the major difficulty you face is to choose the right type of mouth guard. There are different types of mouth guards that are available and you need to choose the most suitable option among them.

The several types of sports mouth guards 

• Custom made mouth guards are those that are made especially for a person or a particular set of teeth for that matter. They are the most comfortable guards as they fit accordingly and hence they are most useful and advised for players of boxing, rugby where the intensity of the hit is also high and a comfortable mouth adjustment is required for playing the sport in the most comfortable way. 

• Boil and bite mouth guards come in a particular shape but they can be brought to customization by boiling the mouth guard and then by biting them. They are little less comfortable yet they are good for players who are not involved in physical contact sports like a basketball or a baseball. 

• Stock mouth guards are non-customizable and are good for protection in sports that do not involve any physical contact and all a player will need them is to protect from biting their lips and such self- injurious things. They are not really very comfortable and are the littlest costliest options. 

How to give your sports mouth guards the best care? 

The sports mouth guards also need good care and maintenance so that they can serve the best of the purposes.

Here are tips that will help you to maintain your sports mouth guard easily

• Clean them each time before you use them as well as after you use them. The best way to clean them is by brushing with toothpaste just like you take care of your teeth.

• Get your sports mouth guards checked whenever you visit your dentist.

• Keep in the case provided and follow all the storage instructions provided by the seller of the mouth guards.

Sports mouth guards can help you maintain a happy, beautiful and a healthy smile and therefore take good care of them so that they can take the best care of your teeth.