Gum Sheild

[Tiggsy]

Having had my face elbowed pretty bad last week I'm after a mouth guard for basketball - seem to be 3 options:

Boil and bit from the sports shop

Mail order

Dentist

I'm looking at a mail order job - they take a cast by post so its a "dentist quality" job....anyone used one, have any tips?

[Pickled Piper]

My Dentist charges about £45 to take a cast and make a specific one.

How much are the mail order jobs?

pp

[Tiggsy]

about the same actually - I may check with the dentist. I assumed it would be much more!

[taaffy]

Get it done at your dentists.
Even from your dentist It may need adjusting when you get it even though casts have been taken, that can be done on the spot by your dentist .
The boil and bite ones are crap.
The mail order ones do not allow adjustment if it does not fit properly and your dentist may not be too happy to adjust someone else's work.

[Fas1975]

+1 for dentist. Got a proper boxers gumshield for kickboxing sparring classes and it's just a perfect fit. Main thing is staying place when your mouth is open, i.e. when breathing heavy, or calling your team-mates. Badly fitted ones slip off the teeth and rendered pointless at that time.

[retreat]

The fit is really important, get one from the dentist as the boil in the bag ones are really bad and a few extra quid is worth it for keeping your teeth. A proper one will last much longer aswell

[rog007]

The 'boil-in-the-bag' ones are not too bad from my experience as long as you get the right size and spend some time working it in properly and if you don't have anything unusual/wrong in your mouth. The aim of a mouth guard is to dissipate forces and hold stuff together if it takes a proper hit and these do a good job if fitted and moulded correctly. I would certainly recommend a dentist though if you have any crowns/bridges/chrome etc in your mouth or if you have an unusual bite or protruding teeth; a bespoke mouthguard may just add that bit more insurance. And get two; always handy to have a spare for when you lose the first!

[taaffy]

Trust me on this ...get one from your dentist.
My wife is a dentist and she's dealt with some horror stories of damage done by having either no gumshield or the boil and bite shields.

£45 for peace of mind is a small price to pay.

I used to play Ice Hockey and regularly had elbows and sticks to the mouth area. I've never experienced any damage due to having a very substantial mouthguard.

[z4chris99]

OPRO are the best, as used by pretty much every sports team around

if you can't get to their dentists to have the impression made they do a home impression kit which I used.

pretty easy to do. pop it In the post are your gumshield arrives back

again, go to OPRO... I've had them since I was a nipper