Today, more than ever, we know how essential it is for athletes to use a quality mouthguard for sports that require mouthguard use. According to a recent online article published by the American Dental Association (ADA), mouthguards have not only been shown to reduce the risk of sport-related dental injuries, but they also have been found to protect sports players from concussions. In short, quality mouthguards provide an essential protection from sport injuries.
What many people don’t know, however, is that the ADA and ANSI/SAI have developed standards for Athletic Mouth Protectors and Materials. The above ADA article goes on to report that as recently as 2009, a study of commercially available products found that none of these met the current ANSI and SAI standards for impact attenuation.
If you do choose to use an over-the counter mouthguard, this ADA article states that it is very important that the mouthguard has an ADA Seal of Acceptance. An over-the-counter mouthguard with this seal indicates that it complies with the ANSI/SAI standards and thus is considered to be a safe option for people to consider.
That said, the ADA article reports that comparison finds custom mouthguards made by dentists to perform the best. We take this seriously–so seriously that we have chosen to offer professional grade, custom mouthguards to the Governor Mifflin football team, a local football team in our area. We love not only to educate about the importance of quality mouthguards, but also to help make safety for our local athletes a reality.
Source: ADA – American Dental Assoociation
http://www.ada.org/en/member-center/oral-health-topics/mouthguards