A custom mouthguard is made from a scan of your own teeth, so it fits closely, stays in place, and does not have to be clenched to stay put. The Orthodontic Gallery in Riverview makes them for athletes with and without braces. If your child plays a contact sport in braces, this is not optional equipment.
Riverview is a youth-sports town. Providence West, the school programs, the leagues that fill every field in the area on a Saturday. We see the injuries those produce, and the ones involving braces are avoidable. Most of it lands on teenagers, which is the age when fixed appliances and contact sport overlap most.
Why Braces Change the Equation
A blow to the mouth with braces on carries two risks at once. There is the usual risk to the teeth, and there is the added risk of brackets and wires cutting the inside of the lip and cheek on impact. If that happens, call us the same day; our emergency care page covers what to do first.
A stock mouthguard from a sporting goods store is not designed for a mouth full of brackets. A boil-and-bite guard is worse in a specific way: it is molded to the shape of your teeth today, and in orthodontic treatment your teeth are deliberately moving. Within weeks the fit is wrong, and a guard that does not fit gets left in the bag.
Guards made for orthodontic patients are built with room for the appliance and enough resilience to absorb an impact without transmitting it into the brackets.
What We Make
We scan, we design, and the guard is made to fit your mouth as it is now, with your appliances in place. You choose the thickness appropriate to your sport, and we check the fit before you take it away.
Ask for a refit during treatment if it starts feeling loose. Teeth move, which is the whole point, and a guard that fitted in September may not fit in February.
Which Sports Need One
Any sport with contact or a projectile. Football, basketball, soccer, hockey, lacrosse, wrestling, martial arts, baseball and softball, skateboarding, and mountain biking, which in this area means the Alafia trails.
Basketball and soccer deserve a specific mention because parents often assume they do not count. They are among the most common sources of dental injury in youth sports, precisely because nobody wears protection.
Mouthguard Questions
Can you wear a mouthguard with braces?
Yes, and you should. It needs to be made for a mouth with braces in it, with clearance for the brackets, rather than a stock guard pressed against them. We make them from a scan of your teeth with the appliances in place.
Is a boil-and-bite mouthguard good enough?
For a patient without braces it is better than nothing. For a patient in orthodontic treatment it is a poor choice, because it molds to today’s tooth positions and your teeth are being moved on purpose. It also tends to be bulkier, which makes it more likely to be left out.
Do I need a mouthguard if I wear clear aligners?
Yes. Aligners are not protective equipment and should be taken out for contact sport, then replaced afterward. Keep the aligner in its case, never in a pocket or wrapped in a towel.
Get One Made
Call 813-867-0414 or request an appointment. We make guards for our own orthodontic patients and for athletes who are not in treatment with us. We are at 10061 Beach Verbena Drive in Riverview.