Athletic Mouthguards in Miami

A custom athletic mouthguard spreads the force of a blow to the mouth, keeps the lips and cheeks off the teeth, and turns what would have been a broken or knocked-out tooth into a bruise. At Vizcaya Dental Arts we make them from a digital scan, in the thickness your sport calls for, for adults and children, including players in braces. One short visit, and the guard is back from the laboratory in about ten days.

Who should wear one

Anyone playing a sport where a blow to the face is possible.

• For contact and collision sports, football, hockey, lacrosse, rugby, wrestling and the martial arts, a mouthguard is essential.
• For sports where falls and collisions happen even though contact is not the point, basketball, soccer, cycling, skateboarding and skiing among them, a thinner guard is well worth wearing.
• Children and teenagers deserve particular attention, because their teeth are newly erupted, their roots are still forming and a serious injury can affect the tooth for life.

A guard protects:

• The teeth, from chipping, cracking or being knocked out
• The lips, cheeks and tongue, from being cut against the teeth
• The jaw, from some of the force of a blow from below

It does not reliably prevent concussions. The evidence there is not settled, and we do not make that claim. A helmet and the rules of the sport are the concussion protection.

Three levels of protection

Mouthguards come in different thicknesses and different resilience, matched to the sport.

• Thin guards for non-contact sports. Comfortable, easy to talk and breathe through, and enough protection for the occasional fall or elbow.
• Standard guards for contact sports. Thicker, with more material over the front teeth where impacts land.
• Heavy guards for fighting sports. Much thicker and built to absorb repeated hard impacts, for boxing, mixed martial arts and similar.

Any of them can have a strap added for sports with a helmet, and custom colors or team colors are available.

Custom versus boil-and-bite

A boil-and-bite guard from a sporting goods store is acceptable as a temporary solution, and better than nothing. Its limits are comfort and protection:

• It is bulky.
• It tends to come loose.
• It gets in the way of breathing and speech.
• The thickness ends up wherever the softened plastic happened to flow rather than where the impact lands.

Players take them out, which is the surest way for a guard to fail. For fighting sports, or any sport where hard impacts are expected, a boil-and-bite guard is not adequate.

A custom guard is made on an exact model of your teeth, so it fits snugly, stays in place without clenching, and leaves you able to breathe and talk. The thickness is placed deliberately. The result is a guard that players wear.

How we make it

A custom guard takes one short visit and about ten days.

1. A digital scan. We scan the teeth in the office with a small camera, so there are no impression trays. Dr. Kottar notes the sport, the thickness needed, whether a strap is wanted and any colors.
2. The laboratory. The guard is pressure-formed on a model from the scan, in layers, by a dental laboratory. It takes about ten days to come back.
3. Delivery. You try it in, and we check the fit, the bite, that you can breathe and speak comfortably, and that nothing rubs. Small adjustments are made in the chair.

Playing in braces

Players in braces need a guard too, more than most, because brackets cut lips and cheeks badly in a collision. A fully custom guard is not practical for them: the teeth are moving, and a guard made for this month will not fit next month. Instead, a guard made for braces is designed to sit over the brackets and wires with room for the teeth to move, protecting the lips and cheeks from the braces and the teeth from the blow. It is remade as treatment progresses. For patients in clear aligners, the answer depends on the stage of treatment; ask us, and we will coordinate with Dr. Hong.

Care and replacement

• Rinse the guard with cool water after every use and brush it with a toothbrush and a little soap, not toothpaste.
• Let it dry and keep it in a ventilated case, out of the heat; a guard left in a hot car or a gym bag warps.
• Never trim or chew it.
• Check it now and then for tears, thin spots and a fit that has loosened, and replace it when you find them.
• A growing child or teenager outgrows a guard as the mouth changes and the adult teeth come in, so expect to remake theirs more often.
• Bring it to your checkups and we will look at it.

Not the same as a night guard

A night guard protects teeth from grinding: it is a hard, flat appliance designed to spread the forces of clenching over the whole arch. An athletic guard is softer, thicker over the front teeth and designed to absorb a single blow. They are different appliances, and wearing a night guard for sport, or a sports guard at night, is a mistake we see fairly often.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a mouthguard for a non-contact sport?

If a fall or a collision is possible, a thin guard is worth wearing: cycling, skateboarding, basketball and soccer all send us injured front teeth. For contact sports it is not optional, and for fighting sports a thick, purpose-made guard is the only sensible choice.

Can my child wear one with braces?

Yes. A guard for a patient in braces is made differently, because the teeth are moving and a fully custom guard would stop fitting within weeks. It is designed to sit over the brackets and protect the lips and cheeks from them, and it is remade as treatment progresses.

How long does it take?

One short visit for a digital scan, no impressions, and about ten days for the laboratory to make the guard. You come back to have it checked for fit, bite, breathing and speech.

How long does it last?

A good while, with care: rinsed after use, brushed, dried and kept in a ventilated case away from heat. Replace it when it is worn, torn or no longer fits, and sooner for a growing child whose mouth is still changing.

Will it prevent concussions?

A mouthguard protects the teeth, lips, tongue and jaw. Whether it reduces concussions is not settled, and we do not claim that it does. Helmets and the rules of the sport are the concussion protection; the guard is for the mouth.

Can I use my night guard for sports?

No. A night guard is made for grinding, with a flat, hard surface and a different thickness, and it is not designed to absorb a blow. The two are different appliances for different jobs.

Sources

Professional guidelines and peer-reviewed reviews this page draws on.

1. Fernandes LM, Neto JCL, Lima TFR, et al. The use of mouthguards and prevalence of dento-alveolar trauma among athletes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Dental Traumatology. 2019;35(1):54-72. DOI