A preliminary report of structural changes to mouthguards during 1 season of high school football.

CONTEXT

Extensive changes to mouthguards may occur as a result of wear and tear and equipment abuse.

OBJECTIVE

To examine how the shape and thickness of custom-fabricated mouthguards change over the course of a complete season of high school football.

DESIGN

Repeated-measures, case-series study.

SETTING

High school.

PATIENTS OR OTHER PARTICIPANTS

Fifteen high school varsity football players aged 15 to 17 years began the investigation; 4 participants lost their mouthguards before the end of the season.

MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURE(S): Custom-made mouthguards were examined before the start of the season, midway through the season, and at the end of the season to document changes to material thickness and shape. Along with evaluating the thickness of mouthguards at the incisor/canine and molar regions, we assessed shape retention by evaluating the width of the mouthguard channel at the first molar.

RESULTS

Material thickness at the incisor/canine region decreased by approximately 16% (F(2,20) = 34.20, P < .001) after 6 weeks of participation. Over the same time period, the mouthguard thickness at the molars decreased by 23% (F(2,20) = 31.92, P < .001), and the shape of the mouthguards changed as well (F(1,11) = 6.01, P = .029).

CONCLUSIONS

Although test mouthguards displayed significant deterioration in shape and material thickness, more research is needed to establish wearing length. Frequent inspections of mouthguards are advised to ensure that fit and protective abilities have not been compromised.