Which type should I choose ?

Why choose a Signature Mouthguard ?

Dental injuries are the most common type of oro-facial injuries sustained during sport with the upper central and lateral incisors accounting for approximately 83% of all dental injuries.

The importance of wearing mouthguards to reduce such injuries is well researched, however the vast majority of sportspeople, as a result of poor alternatives and the absence of education programmes, have used inferior ‘generic’ mouthguards purchased on the basis of non-critical factors such as colour and price. These generic mouthguards neither fit nor protect effectively.

The decision to wear a mouthguard while participating in either recreational or professional sport is a complex choice. The nature of the sport (i.e. contact vs non-contact, racquet, stick or ball sport), the position of the participant ‘on the field’, the level of competition, the age and gender of the sportsperson are all variables which can be used to determine the most suitable style and type of mouthguard to be used.

Unfortunately, most other ‘generic’ mouthguards have not been designed to accommodate these basic variables and while sportspeople continue to compromise by purchasing these products there will remain an unacceptable level of preventable dental injury.

Signature Mouthguards' 20 years of continued research and development has not only produced the revolutionary, internationally acclaimed Signature custom fabricated mouthguard but has also led to the introduction of a new range of ‘off the shelf’ mouthguards.

While these types will never match the soundness of the professional custom hand made laboratory type, Signatures' cutting edge design and production techniques have allowed many of the unique features present in the custom fabricated types to be incorporated into these ‘off the shelf’ types providing a level of protection and comfort not before available in any ‘generic’ mouthguard product.

Which type should I choose ?  Back to top...

Over time, dental injury patterns have emerged for contact and non-contact sports.

Hard contact from sporting equipment (e.g. cricket bats, hockey balls/sticks, ice hockey pucks, basketballs) or falls against hard objects (e.g. goal posts) result in more fractures of teeth in comparison to padded contact sports (e.g. boxing) which tend to produce more supporting tissue injuries and tooth displacements.

So called non-contact sports have also been found to result in more than twice the number of dental injuries as compared to contact sports.

Sports dentistry can predict oral and dental injury patterns based on a number of questions. These can also be used to assist in determining which Signature mouthguard is most appropriate.

1. What is the sport being played ?
2. What type of sporting equipment is being used ?
3. What type of protective equipment is being used ?
4. What is the environment in which the sport is being played ?
5. What is the experience of the participant ?
6. What training methods and regimes are used ?
7. What is the participant's dental anatomy ?
8. What is the participant's gender and age ?
9. What level of competition is being played ?
10. What position does the participant play in team sports ?