Protect this rust with Mouthguard, which larva one order

Protect That Grill

As a martial arts blogger I like to share tips on how you can train better. If you train in martial arts. Get good quality equipment. You should protect yourself properly, and you should never forget that beautiful grill of yours with a mouth guard. A mouth guards acts as a shock absorber to provide a measure of protection against dental trauma, and concussion from blows to the jaw and head. A mouth guard might be overlooked when gear like a Gi, or boxing gloves and shin pads are required. But when doing any level of martial arts involving contact sparring or pad work, you should have something in your mouth to protect it. A basic, ‘boil and bight’ mouth guard, which only costs about $6 last time I checked, should be a mandatory piece of gear in the dojo. You have a mouthful of porcelain, so protect it. Even if you are only doing pad drills, a mouth guard can increase protection against an errant blow or a rebound of a blow to a pad that bounces off your face.! Its a situation all the more likely to occur when you are new to martial arts, and you are in a state where you are fatigued and or possibly training with a partner that doesn’t yet know their own strength. You should get a mouth guard if you don’t have one, and if there is any question about using it, you use it.

…the injury that will hurt you the most is the one you aren’t protecting yourself against.

Wikipedia mentions as well on its mouth guard page that a wide array of sports are subject to dental and head of injuries. Use of a mouth guard is the way to protect yourself in sports like: “baseball, boxing, martial arts, rugby, wrestling, football, American football, Australian football, lacrosse, basketball, figure skating, hockey, underwater hockey, water polo, skiing and snowboarding.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mouthguard

Wait a second… water polo…. and figure skating? Yeah, because the injury that will hurt you the most is the one you aren’t protecting yourself against. That is the whole point here.

UFC, in the interests of the best prepared and protected fighters in their series retains the services of the Fight Dentist Dr. Adam Persky http://www.fightdentist.com. Dr. Persky creates custom mouth guards for fighters and provides emergency dental care for fighters. A segment about Dr. Persky occasionally leads the fights on UFC pay per view broadcasts. Its been mentioned how common it is for fighters to get to the top level of their profession using a basic boil and bight mouth guard. The message is clear: the best mouth guard possible is the best option for a fighter.

dental implant

As for myself, I have a lovely piece of dental work from some time ago that I have to take special care of. Its a titanium post with a full crown that replaces an upper front incisor, lost over 15 years ago, hence my personal interest in the best mouth guard possible. Anything would be less trouble than replacing it. With a piece of metal drilled right into the bone, much of the natural support for the tooth is gone. There are no ‘ligaments’, to support the tooth and cushion against impacts as for a real tooth.

Dr. Amer Khakwany of Tinseltown Dental

So for a little while I have been looking for something better than the off the shelf variety of mouth guard, for about six bux, of I which I now own three. But while I had an open mind, I wasn’t able to find very much that provided any more protection in justification of the higher price tag. So I paid a visit to my dentist, Dr. Amer Khakwany at Tinseltown Dental, http://tinseltowndental.com/ to ask him to make me a custom mouth guard while I document the process for my blog.

The process involves making a mould of the mouth by taking impressions of both the upper and lower teeth with a quick hardening alginate medium. The lab takes over from there and delivers a mouth guard that fits your bight perfectly about a week later.

boil and bight mouth guard

My new custom mouth guard is much thinner and harder, and fits on to my upper teeth quite precisely. The mouth guard is quite a bit harder than the boil and bight variety, and this helps prevent the lower jaw from clenching while wearing it. I find that its much easier to breathe while wearing it during training sessions as compared to a larger boil and bight mouth guard.

custom mouth guard

Perhaps more people would consider a custom mouth guard if it weren’t for the concerns of the cost of getting one made. Actually, the cost of obtaining a custom mouth guard has dropped considerably from what I had initially heard from friends. Custom mouth guards have in the recent past cost around $300, but in fact dental and lab fees in my case were only around $150. Sure it costs more than the basic mouth guard, but its a lot less than what people think it costs, and it is still a lot less than a trip to the dentist and oral surgeon.

boil and bight and custom mouth guard

Until you decide to get a custom mouth guard, you can maximize the protection your mouth guard provides by reading the instructions carefully when you do your fitting. Be sure that the resulting mouth guard has strong suction against your teeth. The guard should also go as high as possible around your teeth, up into the area of the mouth called the ‘vestibule’ for best possible protection. You should feel comfortable wearing it, you should be able to adapt your breathing while wearing it. Consider also changing it every six months or year. Rinse it with water after every use and store it in a small plastic tub with a drop of mouthwash to keep it fresh and clean. A bit of googling did not return much that was relevant beyond a lot of websites selling mouth guards, but there was this post on fightingArts.com which provides a well detailed post about mouth guards and it is well worth reading. http://www.fightingarts.com/reading/article.php?id=403

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