Do You Need a Special Mouthguard If You Have Braces?

Bright smiles on big and little faces don’t just come from preventative care – protecting your teeth is just as important as brushing and flossing! Did you know that 13 to 39 percent of all dental injuries are related to sports? When playing sports (or doing anything fun and active), a mouthguard is an important part of protecting your smile. If you’re a parent of a child with braces or have adult braces yourself, it’s time to talk about mouth guard gear for you and your little ones.

Do you need a special mouthguard for braces? Can orthodontic patients even wear mouthguards? We hear these questions all the time from La Jolla smiles undergoing orthodontic treatment. And there’s great news for everyone who’s correcting their smile. Mouthguards are super important for every single parent, teen, or little one building a brand-new smile with braces.

This is an easy answer: it’s a very big YES! In fact, you should be wearing one if you grind your teeth, clench your jaw often, or play contact sports – even if you don’t have braces. A mouthguard not only protects your teeth and braces, but it also makes sure that your braces don’t hurt the inside of your mouth by cutting your cheeks, lips, or gums.

Depending on what you need, mouthguards can be developed to cover both the top and bottom teeth or just one row. Most importantly, your mouthguard has to be comfortable while it protects your teeth. A comfortable fit means that everything is working right.

The best kind of mouthguard for someone with braces is a custom mouthguard that is fitted to your unique grin. At Hagan Orthodontics, we always recommend talking to us to get a custom fit mouthguard for your teeth, giving your smile medical-grade silicone protection! Patients of all ages come to us to explore treatment options, and that includes making sure your smile is protected around the clock.

The best mouthguard for anyone with braces is one that is specially designed for you. The point of wearing braces on your chompers is to move your teeth into the right place, but that also means that you have a lot of expensive gear in your mouth. A boil and bite mouthguard won’t cut it!

Special mouthguards for braces help you protect your oral health while you sleep, participate in energetic activities, and even reduce snoring. Your orthodontist can easily work with you to make sure that you have a mouthguard that is the right size for your mouth, teeth, and braces – and you’ll also be able to adjust your mouthguard as you progress in your treatment plan!

A mouthguard that just doesn’t fit can not only be uncomfortable, it can also get stuck or damage your braces if you aren’t careful. Sports like surfing, skateboarding, biking, and martial arts have a little bit of risk alongside a whole ton of fun – but that doesn’t mean you have to stop doing what you love while you’re undergoing treatment.

Schedule your appointment at our La Jolla office to make sure that your braces won’t interfere with your lifestyle – get a custom-fitted mouthguard with Dr. Hagan! We want to keep every small smile safe.

Your mouthguard won’t require nearly as much time and care as your braces, but it’s still important to know what to do to keep your mouth protection in tip-top shape. Here are some top-secret tricks to make sure that you always get the most out of your mouthguard!

• When you’re using your mouthguard, take the opportunity to tidy up with some brushing and flossing before you put it in. This does double duty when you have braces!
• Always rinse your mouthguard out after you’re done and brush it with some toothpaste. Be sure you’re using cold water! Hot water will warp the custom-fitted design.
• Store your mouthguard so that it’s protected in a container but can still “breathe.” This will dry it out between uses and keep it from getting funky.
• Always bring your mouthguard to your appointments with your dentist and your orthodontist. We’ll make sure that it’s still working well and doesn’t need to be replaced.
• Replace your mouthguard when it starts to get damaged or warped. A good-quality guard will last for a couple of years.