If you are a serious amateur or professional athlete, especially if you take part in full-contact sports such as boxing or mixed martial arts, having a custom-fit mouthguard is a must in order to keep you safe.

Both the Unified Rules of Boxing and Mixed Martial Arts specify that you must have a mouthguard, and sports such as rugby go further than this, requiring advanced mouthguards with sensors to help detect head impacts.

However, not all mouthguards are created equal and provide the same level of protection, and opting for a cheap mouthguard that does not fit properly can not only risk your health but could even directly cause you to lose, as Diego Corrales found out.

To explain why, here are the four main types of mouthguards, their benefits and weaknesses.

Stock Mouthguard

The first type of mouthguard is a very basic mouth protector. It is fixed in size and design, offering very little in the way of protection outside of avoiding direct impacts between teeth and fists.

Boil And Bite Mouthguards

A cheap and very common type of mouthguard, boil and bite mouthguards use a type of thermoplastic which softens when it gets warm. You drop it in boiling water, bite down on it, and it creates a roof impression of your teeth and a loosely custom fit.

Whilst useful as a backup if you have no other alternatives, they are relatively ineffective mouthguards which often feel loose, bulky and offer little protection. 

At-Home Impression Kits

One type of custom-fit mouthguard, an at-home impression, involves the use of an impression kit. You bite down on it, put it in the self-addressed box and send it to a manufacturing company, which uses the impression to design your mouthguard.

It is better than a boil-and-bite mouthguard, but any errors in the impression process will lead to an imperfect mouthguard.

Professional Dentist-Made Custom Mouthguards

The best option for professional and dedicated amateur athletes, custom mouthguards made by a dentist will have a much more precise fit and provide far greater options for customisation to meet your needs as an athlete.

If you’ve been wearing a teeth retainer for a while, you’ll know that issues like build-up and wear happen to even the most robust of products. 

Bruxism is an unpleasant condition involving the clenching, grinding and gnashing of teeth that can be a particular problem at night. However, a bruxism night guard can help to prevent its worst effects.

In the vicious and often-violent world of combat sports, a custom-fit mouthguard is a small but powerful piece of protective equipment that can prevent some impact injuries from occurring and lessen the severity of others that it cannot protect from.

Boxing is the oldest sport in existence to mandate mouthguards, and ensuring a boxer has a custom-fit gumshield is vital not only for their health but also their career. However, could smart mouthpieces be used during fights to potentially save lives?

It is always important to emphasise the importance of mouthpieces in sports, especially since they can help not only preserve your mouth but also potentially protect your head from certain types of impacts.

A mouthpiece is a vital piece of boxing equipment that prevents injuries, allows a fighter to brace themselves for significant impact and makes potentially dangerous cuts visible to a referee to ensure that they are safely protected from themselves.

We all know that job interviews mean making a good first impression. You put on your best suit and a freshly pressed shirt, hoping to impress, but what if your smile is letting you down?