Sports Mouth Guards

When you are preparing for sports practice or a game, you wouldn’t dream of going without your uniform. If you're playing a contact sport like football, you always have a helmet and pads on before going near the field. But you're missing a vital piece of protective gear if you're not wearing a sports mouth guard.

Preventing Dental Injuries

American football made mouth guards mandatory. Since then, mouth guards have prevented about 200,000 dental injuries each year.

But the dangers of tooth and mouth injury do not end with contact sports. Recent studies have shown that basketball has a higher risk of oral injury than football.

For these sports, contact comes from the ball, ground, hoop, or other surfaces. This is different from football where contact comes from other players. For this reason, mouth guards are not currently required by most schools and many teams.

Why Mouth Guards are Important

Each year, an estimated 13% to 39% of all dental injuries occur while playing sports. This is unacceptable considering that these injuries are preventable with a mouth guard.

The last thing you want is to have a dental emergency interrupt your game or season. That's why we recommend that you schedule an appointment with us to get a custom mouth guard.

Dr. Michael Nichols will custom-fit your mouth guard to keep you safe while you play.

While you can buy generic mouth guards over the counter, we don't recommend them. These mouth guards are often uncomfortable and either fit too tight or loose. You won't have this problem with a custom mouth guard though.

Request an Appointment With Us

Dr. Michael Nichols is a family dentist in Grand Rapids, MI. As such, he and his team strive to always provide the best dental care to their patients. To request an appointment, call Nichols Family Dentistry at (616) 333-8496.