All you kneed to know about wrestling mouth guards
The main benefit of a mouth guard is fairly self-explanatory: it guards your mouth. Not only can it prevent dental injuries (your teeth and inside your mouth), it can also prevent injuries caused by jarring of the head, neck and jaw. Like any full contact sport, these types of injuries are not at all uncommon. However, a huge number of these injuries are easily preventable by simply following the practice of wearing a mouth guard. In sports like boxing and MMA, mouth guards serve to decrease the chance of a knockout or broken jaw, as a swift blow to the jaw can cause concussion or loss of consciousness. In wrestling, punching and kicking is illegal, but there is still a risk on accidental contact that can have the same effect.
Very often, we hear people say mouth guards are only for people with braces. That is, quite simply, not true. People get this assumption because the rules only require wrestlers with braces to wear mouth guards. As you can imagine, if they didn’t they would undoubtedly be constantly cutting up the inside of their mouths, and potentially scratching their opponents as well in some situations. However, the benefits of a mouth guard go well beyond avoiding cuts and bruises from braces.
Even without braces, it’s possible to gash up your lips, tongue or inside your cheeks with your teeth. You can even do the same thing eating a bagel if you’re not careful. The contact wrestlers experience can also cause teeth to be chipped, dislocated, or totally knocked out. Mouth guards work wonders for preventing both of these types of injuries.
A mouth guard also can act as a safe barrier between the top and bottom teeth, as well as a cushion to absorb shock and redistribute impact to the face and chin. In wrestling, we aren’t worried about getting punched in the jaw, but there are some holds and position that could (accidentally or intentionally) cause the top and bottom teeth to grind or collide with each other in an unfavorable way.
In addition to avoiding injuries, studies have also shown that mouth guards provide psychological benefit for athletes, and can even improve performance. The nice folks running around in white lab coats found that wearing a mouth guard during athletic activity tends to increase confidence and aggression.
If you have any questions on any mouthguards or would like to have help finding the right one, please gve us a call at 1 888-887-8893
