Are all mouthguards the same and safe to use? Part 2. The influence of anterior occlusion against a direct impact on maxillary incisors.
The purpose of this study was to clarify the influence anterior occlusion, of mouthguards, has on protecting against a direct collision to the maxillary anterior teeth. In other words, the support mandibular dentition has when wearing a mouthguard. Two types of mouthguards were used for this study, one with an appropriate anterior occlusion or a mouthguard with positive anterior occlusion (MGAO+) and another which was a single-layer mouthguard lacking the same occlusion or a mouthguard with negative anterior occlusion (MGAO-) but with the same thickness on the buccal side. The instruments used for testing were a pendulum-type impact device with two interchangeable impact objects (a steel ball and a baseball), with a plastic jaw model having artificial teeth. Four testing conditions were observed: one with the jaw open without a mouthguard (Open NoMG), the second with the jaw clenching (loaded with 30 kg weight) without a mouthguard (Clench. NoMG), the third with the jaw clenching with MGAO- (Clench. MGAO-) and the last with the jaw clenching with MGAO+ (Clench. MGAO+). The results are as follows: both types of mouthguards showed the effects in reducing the distortion of the teeth. However, the effect was significantly obvious (steel ball = about 57% shock absorption ability, baseball = about 26%) in the mouthguard with anterior occlusion or support by lower dentition through mouthguard (Clench. MGAO+) than Clench. MGAO-. Thus, the influence of anterior occlusion of mouthguards or the support of mandibular dentition through wearing a mouthguard (MGAO+) is indispensable in reducing the impact force and tooth distortion. The results of this research should further contribute to the establishment of guidelines for safer mouthguards.
Takeda
Tomotaka
T
Department of Sports Dentistry, Tokyo Dental College, Chiba, Japan. takedat@attglobal.net
Ishigami
Keiichi
K
Nakajima
Kazunori
K
Naitoh
Kaoru
K
Kurokawa
Katsuhide
K
Handa
Jun
J
Shomura
Masahito
M
Regner
Connell Wayne
CW
D001265:Athletic Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*; D001484:Baseball / Q000293:injuries; D003767:Dental Occlusion, Balanced; D003799:Dental Stress Analysis; D004867:Equipment Design; D004869:Equipment Safety; D007180:Incisor; D008437:Maxilla; D003765:Models, Dental; D009064:Mouth Protectors; D019876:Sports Equipment; D018677:Tooth Injuries / Q000517:prevention & control*