Suitable design of mouthguard for sports-active person with spaced dentition.

AIM: Custom-made mouthguard (MG) is popularly used by sports-active persons or athletes having either normo-occlussion or malocclusion to prevent dental injury. For sports-active person with malocclusion, specially designed mouthguard is often required. The purpose of this study was to make a suitable design custom-made mouthguard for sports-active person with spaced dentition by the shock absorption capability.

MATERIALS AND

METHODS

Two different types of double layered mouthguards were made from a model of a sports-active person having spaced dentition with polyolefin sheets. One type was made by filling the interproximal spaces of the spaced dentition and the other type, which was devoid of interproximal space covering, without mouthguard materials (keeping space). The impact tests were carried out by a free-falling object via testing machine and a vertical rod. The strains of the dentition with mouthguard were measured by means of strain gage system to compare between two different designs of mouthguard. Unpaired t-test was carried out as statistical analysis.

RESULT: The strains of the dentition with mouthguard by filling the interproximal spaces were significantly low compared with the mouthguard by keeping spaces (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

For sports-active person with spaced dentition, it is important for reducing injury risks that the mouthguard covered the teeth and filled or embedded interproximal space certainly.