When do I need a sports mouthguard?

• Mouthguards are recommended for almost all contact sports – for good reason! A broken arm or sprained ankle will heal, but damaged or knocked out teeth can make for a lifetime of needing dental treatment.
• Depending on your level, we can make full professional mouthguards or mouthguards for more casual sports, like most school sports.
• Kids are always growing, and like everything else you may find that eventually as their jaws grow, they may need a new one once a year or so.

What do mouthguards do?

They reduce impacts on your teeth and surrounding gums and bones by spreading the load and absorbing some stress. They protect teeth from being knocked out or broken from contact sports, mountain bike handlebars, hockey sticks etc.

What’s the difference between boil and bite ones and dentist-made custom fitted ones?

Dentist-made custom fitted mouthguards are specifically made and trimmed to fit your mouth for maximum comfort and stress distribution. This means they are better at protecting your teeth, but also more comfortable, so you can breathe effectively while playing your sport.

Boil and bite ones that you can get from the pharmacy are better than nothing, and in a pinch or if you’ve lost your mouthguard or are still waiting for it, can be a good interim mouthguard.

Do I need an upper and a lower one?

This depends on the sport, but most of the time just an upper one is enough – this is because the upper teeth tend to stick out more, so they usually take any stress from impacts.

Can I pick what it looks like?

Of course! We have a range of colours, or you can custom design which colours you’d like on it if you’d like your team colours.

Will my health fund cover some of the cost of my mouthguard?

Most health funds recognise that having a mouthguard is preventative and do pay some benefit. All health funds are different, and based on your level of cover, so talk to your health fund if you’d like to know how much they’ll cover for you.

Remember to get started about 3 weeks before the sports season – your scans need to be sent to a dental laboratory to make, which can take a little time. In a rush? Let us know and we can try to organise it more quickly for you.

Call (02) 6262 0423 to book an appointment to take some impressions, or if you have any questions, send us an email on info@gungahlindentist.com.au and we can help you with any enquiries.