Lone Tree | 303.779.2797 | Contact Us
Ask Our Staff
Archive:
- 2013
- 2012
- 2011
- December (10)
- Give the Gift of Teeth Whitening this Holiday Season
- Halloween Candy To Eat or Not to Eat
- Great Patient Reviews of Willow Creek Dental
- Use your Dental Benefits before they Expire
- Save up to $300 off Invisible Braces in August
- Have a Night Out on Us!
- Anxious about the Dentist? Relax, Willow Creek Dental can help you.
- School is starting soon…Schedule your child’s appointment today!
- Hungry? Get a $25 Gift Card for Referring a New Patient
- Thank you for following Us on Facebook and Twitter!
Tags
- Facebook (1)
- Twitter (1)
- $25 gift card (2)
- Chili's (1)
- Maggiano's (1)
- On The Border (1)
- Patient Referrals (2)
- Romano's Macaroni Grill (1)
- Dental Cleaning (1)
- fear of the dentist (1)
- Nitrous Oxide (1)
- reduce dental anxiety (1)
- Art & Ale Brew Festival (1)
- The Wildlife Experience (1)
- ClearCorrect (1)
- Financing (1)
- Free Consultation (1)
- Invisible Braces (2)
- Payment Plans (1)
- dental benefits (2)
- flex account (1)
- flex spending (2)
- insurance (1)
- maximize insurance benefits (1)
- Dental Experience (1)
- Patient Reviews (1)
- Halloween Candy (1)
- Teeth Whitening (3)
- Dental Insurance (1)
- Community Outreach (1)
- ZOOM! (1)
- Cosmetic Dentistry (1)
- Porcelain Veneers (1)
- Mouth Guards (1)
- Sports Mouth Guards (1)
- Testimonials (1)
- Dental Insurance Benefits (1)
- Invisalign (1)
Willow Creek Dental Blog
Posts for category: Sports Mouth Guards
When shopping for an athletic mouth guard, buying a stock or a boil-and-bite guard to save money at the counter might seem tempting. Custom made mouth guards cost more and require a dental visit, making it more work for you. While those beliefs might seem to be true initially, they might not seem as valid when a cheap mouth guard doesn’t protect you or your child’s teeth. Custom mouth guards can save money in the long-term by preventing dental injuries, therefore improving your quality of life over the long-term.
Stock mouth guards are the cheapest and least protective guards on the market. They come in generic sizes and can only be resized by cutting off edges. Stock guards will fall out if an athlete's jaws are not clenched at all times, making them highly inefficient and ineffective.
Boil-and-bite mouth guards are not much better. An athlete soaks the plastic guard in hot water for a few seconds and then places the warm guard in his or her mouth, sucking out all the air around the guard. The result is a molded piece of plastic that supposedly fits the athlete's mouth and protects the teeth during play of contact sports. However, boil-and-bite mouth guards wear out quickly, are often loose and ill-fitting, and often fail to cover all teeth.
When an athlete wears a custom-fit mouth guard, he or she reduces the risk of serious dental injury. Custom-fit guards are made by a dental professional to fit the teeth of an individual athlete rather than a generic mouth size. They fit well, cover all teeth, and are more comfortable than their cheaper counterparts. These guards also wear better, meaning that they should last a long time. A dentist will also take into account an athlete's dental history when making the guard so that all braces, crowns, and other such dental work will be factored in during the formation of the mouth piece.
Sports are supposed to be fun, but fewer things are less fun than a painful dental injury that can cost an athlete and his or her family thousands of dollars to remedy. Such an injury would feel all the more painful because the wounded athlete would know that the damage might have been prevented by the use of a custom made mouth guard. Dental injuries can have long-lasting effects on both an athlete's teeth and bank account, making custom fit mouth guards important.