Mouthguards

The AFL & Torquay Football Club strongly recommends that players wear mouthguards during all contact training and match play. 

 

Dental injuries—such as loosened or dislodged teeth—are common in contact sports but largely preventable. A properly fitted mouthguard helps absorb impact to the face and jaw, significantly reducing the risk of serious dental trauma.

​

There are three types of mouthguards:

​

1. Custom fitted (by a dentist) mouthguards.  Made from a dental impression of the players own teeth, which offer the best protection and usually a greater level of comfort.
    

2. Over the counter, ‘boil and bite’, mouthguards.  Can be bought at pharmacies and sporting goods retailers. Although they are reported to be less comfortable and potentially less well fitting, they are certainly preferable to using no mouthguard in reducing the risk of dental injury.
    

3. Instrumented mouthguards.  An instrumented (or ’smart’) mouthguard (IMG) is a custom fit mouthguard which protects the teeth and through inbuilt sensors (‘instruments’) provides information on head impact accelerations (HIA) while being worn.  More Information Here.