How Does a Mouth Guard Work? Minimising the Chance of Dental Injury

Mouth guards are recommended to be worn when you or your child play sports, or if you experience teeth grinding. They provide cushioning and protection against impact which, in turn, reduces your chance of dental injury. Let’s take a closer look at how does a mouth guard work and how it can minimise injury and damage to your mouth and teeth.

How Does A Mouthguard Work?

Mouth guards are effective in three key areas that allow them to minimise impact and damage. The types of injuries that can be prevented by a mouth guard include

• Injuries to your mouth, tongue and cheeks
• Cracked, broken or lost teeth
• Broken or dislocated jaws
• Concussion 

Mouth guards are especially helpful for people who wear orthodontic braces, which can cause lacerations on the inside of your mouth.

It Slows Down The Impact

You can accept that the greater the amount of force, the greater the amount of damage that will be done. You can lessen the amount of force by extending the period of time that it is exerted by wearing a mouth guard. 

The science of how does a mouthguard work comes down to its ability to be flexible and compressive, thus slowing down the time it takes for the impact to occur.

It Creates A Larger Area To Disperse The Impact Across

Force does more damage to a smaller area. By creating a larger surface area to absorb the impact, a mouth guard can lessen its degree of damage.

It Absorbs Impact

Mouth guards are made from a flexible material that absorbs the impact that is exerted on your mouth and teeth. A mouth guard absorbs the energy and then returns to its normal shape.

Mouth guards also do the important job of minimising your chance of concussion due to impact. They do this by keeping the jaws slightly ajar and out of contact with one another, which can prevent the force of the impact from being distributed to the brain, resulting in a concussion.

But … a mouth guard needs to fit well to work well

All of these features can only really be relevant if your mouth guard fits you properly. And by properly, we mean that it needs to be custom made for your mouth and teeth so that it provides protection in all the right places. While you can purchase a mouth guard from sports stores, it’s best to have your mouth measured and the correct sizing to be applied.

An effective and functional mouth guard also needs to perform in other areas.

Clear Speech

An effective mouth guard needs to fit well but also still enable you to speak clearly and be understood by your team members.

Easy Breathing

Everyone needs to be able to breathe easily, and even more so when you are playing sports. A well-fitting mouth guard still needs to give you a chance to breathe easy.

Mouth guards need to be comfortable in order for people to want to wear them.

To find out more about how does a mouth guard work to prevent dental injury, please contact us for an appointment: 

Buderim: (07) 5317 1023
Caloundra: (07) 5315 8076