FarParker

Dr. Jeffrey Norden, DDS – Team Dentist for the Vancouver Canucks

Many of us have been regularly playing our pick-up and beer league hockey and I had a friend mention a thought that ran through his mind a while back, when we began putting on our gear for the first game this season. “Did I really leave my mouth guard sitting in my jockstrap all summer long?” As we contemplate whether to wear that smelly mouth guard with the black stuff in the bottom, we gaze across the dressing room at Joe and see his gapped tooth smile and you know what you have to do. You take it to the washroom sink, rinse and stick it in your mouth, remembering that you had vowed to get a new one at the end of last season.

Mouth guards are the most important piece of protective equipment we wear… well, except perhaps for our cups or breast pads for the ladies. Mouth guards protect the teeth from fracture, displacement or even loss and the lips, gums and oral area from lacerations and injury due to damaging impacts. In addition, the mouth guard protects the TMJ (jaw joint) from damage when lower teeth are slammed up to upper teeth due to an errant elbow or stick and it could reduce the risk and severity of concussion. Then there are those pesky, deflected pucks…

As team dentist for the NHL Vancouver Canucks, I see numerous injuries to the oro-facial area and teeth throughout the season, but by far the number and severity of those injuries belong to players who don’t play with a mouth guard in place. Luckily, more and more of the players who have entered the league are continuing to wear their guards that they wore in junior and college. It is one thing for a professional player to risk injury when earning the high salaries they do, but quite another for us recreational hockey players to play without a mouth guard and risk injuries and a hefty bill from your dentist. 

There are three main types of guards. The first two can be bought at your sporting goods store and they are the one size fits all and the “boil and bite.” I don’t recommend these types as they fit poorly, are unstable, sometimes make it hard to breathe and talk and studies show that they barely protect better than using no guard at all. The best one to get is the custom fitted guard fabricated at your dentist where he will take a mould of your upper teeth and have the laboratory press and laminate the material to provide the best fit and protection. This type will be more expensive, but if you take care of it will provide you years of service. 

1. Rinse it thoroughly after the game and place it in its plastic case.
2. When you get home take it and place a bit of dishwashing liquid and warm water and scrub it with a worn toothbrush.
3. If you notice some black spots in the guard place a dash of bleach in a bowl of cold water and let it soak overnight then thoroughly rinse.