A custom sports mouthguard is made from a ninety-second digital scan of your child's teeth. It fits, which is the entire reason children keep it in — unlike the boil-and-bite kind from the sports shop, which does not fit and therefore lives at the bottom of a bag.
NEEDS SIGN-OFF K-18 Claims about the practice — Custom mouthguards / night guards from a scan. Approve as written, or give the correction.
A knocked-out adult front tooth on a fourteen-year-old is a lifelong expense. A mouthguard is a one-off.
Why the drugstore kind fails
It is not the price. It is that it does not stay in.
A boil-and-bite guard is a generic tray softened in hot water and bitten into. It is bulky, it makes speech difficult, and it needs to be clenched to stay put — so children take it out to talk, to breathe hard, to shout at a teammate, and then forget to put it back.
A guard that is in a bag protects nothing. That is the whole argument, and every coach in Fairfield County already knows it.
A custom guard is thin where it can be, thick where it must be, and it holds itself in place. Children wear it because they stop noticing it.
Which sports
Football and hockey are obvious and usually mandated.
The ones people forget: basketball — a leading cause of dental injury, because elbows are at exactly face height. Also soccer, lacrosse, wrestling, martial arts, skateboarding, and baseball. Anywhere a ball, an elbow, a stick or the ground can reach a face.
And if your child wears braces, a guard is not optional. A blow to the mouth drives brackets into the lip. Tell us about the braces; the guard is made differently.
What it actually costs, and what it prevents
NEEDS SIGN-OFF C-11 Costs stated here — single implant, post+abutment+crown $4,000–$6,500. Approve as written, or give the correction.
A knocked-out adult tooth in a teenager is not one procedure. It is a sequence.
Even if the tooth is saved and re-implanted — and the first thirty minutes decide whether it can be — it will very often need a root canal, and it may darken, and it may need a crown. If it is lost, an implant cannot be placed until the jaw has finished growing, which for a fourteen-year-old means years of a temporary solution first, then $4,000 to $6,500 for the implant, and then a replacement crown every fifteen years for the rest of their life.
That is a five-figure lifetime cost, and it started with an elbow in a basketball game.
A custom guard costs a small fraction of one crown.
Making one
The scan takes about ninety seconds. A small wand photographs the teeth — no impression tray, nothing to gag on, which matters a great deal with a twelve-year-old who has decided in advance that they are not doing this.
The guard is made to that scan and fitted at a second short visit. You can usually pick the colour, which sounds trivial and is in fact why some children wear it and others do not.
If your child is still losing baby teeth or the adult teeth are still coming through, the guard will need remaking as the mouth changes — usually every year or two through the growth years. Budget for that. It is still cheaper than the alternative by an enormous margin.
If a tooth does get knocked out
Print this and put it in the sports bag.
- Find the tooth. Pick it up by the crown — never the root.
- Do not scrub it. If it is dirty, rinse it briefly in milk or saline. Not water, and not soap.
- Put it straight back in the socket if you can, and have your child bite gently on a clean cloth to hold it.
- If you cannot, keep it in milk — or tucked inside the child's own cheek if they are old enough not to swallow it. Not water; water damages the root cells.
- Get to a dentist immediately. The first thirty minutes decide most of it. A tooth kept moist has a real chance. A tooth that dries out for an hour usually does not.
A baby tooth is not re-implanted — putting it back can damage the adult tooth developing above it. Still call us; the socket needs looking at.
Questions people ask
Can I just get one from the sports shop?
You can, and it is better than nothing. It is also the reason most children play unprotected: it does not fit, so it does not stay in.
Does insurance cover a mouthguard?
Some plans contribute. Many do not, treating it as preventive rather than restorative — which is a strange judgement, but there it is. Ask us and we will check.
How long does it last?
Through a season, usually longer. In a growing mouth, expect to remake it every year or two.
Can it be made with braces on?
Yes, and it must be. Say so when you book.
Does my child need a top guard, a bottom guard, or both?
Upper only, in the great majority of cases. If your child has braces on the lower teeth too, that changes.
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Book the scan while you are in for the school form and do both in one visit. Family and general dentistry, or call (203) 372-0881.
Educational, not a diagnosis. In a dental emergency, call us immediately — the first thirty minutes matter.
