A child running around a rugby pitch on a Saturday morning in Westcliff doesn’t think much about their teeth, and that’s fair. Parents tend to think about them only when something goes wrong, usually after a knock to the face that turns a good morning into a panic phone call. Sports mouthguards exist for exactly that moment, and they make a significant difference to the kind of injury you end up dealing with. As part of routine children’s dentistry, we fit custom mouthguards for sports-active children every week, and the conversations are usually the same: what’s the right type, when do you replace it, and is it really worth the cost over a high-street boil-and-bite.
What a mouthguard actually does
A well-fitted mouthguard does three things at once. It cushions a direct impact to the front teeth so the energy doesn’t fracture the crown or knock the tooth out. It prevents the upper and lower teeth from clashing together during a blow to the chin. And it acts as a barrier between the lips and the teeth, reducing soft-tissue lacerations.
What it doesn’t do is prevent concussion. Despite some marketing claims, the evidence on mouthguards reducing concussion risk is mixed at best. The dental injury protection is well established. The brain injury protection isn’t.
That nuance matters when comparing brands.
The three main types
There are essentially three categories of mouthguard available to UK parents, and the differences between them are genuinely meaningful.
| Type | Cost range | Fit quality | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock (pre-formed) | Low (under £10) | Poor; held in place by biting | Not recommended for any contact sport |
| Boil-and-bite | £10 to £30 | Moderate; depends entirely on home moulding | Casual or low-contact use, short-term |
| Custom-made (dental) | £60 to £150 per guard | High; impression-based or scanned | Regular contact sport, fixed appliances, growing children |
The British Society of Paediatric Dentistry recommends custom-made guards for children participating in any contact or collision sport. The fit is what matters: a guard that doesn’t stay put during play won’t be in place at the moment of impact. Boil-and-bite guards distort over time, and children quietly stop wearing them because they fall out.
The cheapest stock guards, in particular, often make speech and breathing so awkward that they end up in a kit bag for an entire season without being worn once. A guard nobody wears protects nobody.
The brace question
Children wearing fixed orthodontic braces face an extra risk: a knock to the face can drive the lip into the brackets, causing a deep laceration even when the teeth themselves are unharmed. Standard mouthguards don’t fit comfortably over fixed appliances either, because the brackets keep changing shape as treatment progresses.
Two options work in practice. The first is a special orthodontic mouthguard, made with extra silicone space over the brackets and designed to accommodate movement. The second is a remade custom guard at the start and middle of orthodontic treatment, which costs more but fits more precisely. We tend to recommend the orthodontic-specific design for active children in the early stages of treatment.
Honestly, the children most at risk of dental trauma are exactly the ones who need orthodontic work in the first place: those with a pronounced overjet. So the overlap is real, and worth planning for.
How long a child’s mouthguard lasts
This is the question most parents don’t ask, and it’s the one that matters most. A custom mouthguard made for an 11-year-old will not fit the same child at 13. Permanent teeth are still erupting, jaws are still growing, and what fitted snugly in Year 7 can be flapping loose by Year 9.
Worth knowing: most paediatric custom guards need replacing every 12 to 18 months during active growth, and at the start of any new sporting season after a major growth spurt. A guard that’s loose enough to spit out is a guard that’s not protecting anything.
For under-18s with a stable bite, the same guard often lasts two years. For mid-pubertal teenagers, it can be one season.
Quick check at the start of each term: if the child can pull the guard out with their tongue or it slides forward when they talk, it’s time for a remake. The cost of a new custom guard is small compared with a single fractured permanent incisor and the lifetime of restorations that follow.
Cleaning, care, and first aid
Mouthguards spend their working lives wet, warm, and full of saliva and bacteria. Care matters.
- Rinse with cold water immediately after use; hot water distorts the silicone
- Brush gently with a toothbrush and a small amount of toothpaste, no more than once a day
- Soak in a denture-cleaning tablet solution once a week to control odour and biofilm
- Store in a ventilated case, never sealed in a kit bag while wet
- Keep away from radiators, car dashboards, and direct sunlight
- Replace immediately if it tears, develops a hole, or stops fitting securely
That’s the maintenance routine. It takes under a minute a day.
Even with the best protection, accidents happen. Three quick rules apply.
- If it’s a permanent tooth, find it, hold it by the crown only, rinse briefly in cold milk if dirty, and try to push it back into the socket. Bite gently on a clean cloth to hold it in place. See a dentist immediately.
- If reinsertion isn’t possible, store the tooth in cold milk (not water) and get to a dentist within 30 to 60 minutes. Time is the critical variable.
- If it’s a baby tooth, do not try to re-implant. Take the child to the dentist for assessment to check the underlying permanent tooth.
The full UK first-aid guidance for dental trauma is available on the NHS website. Worth a glance before the start of any new sports season.
When to book a fitting locally
The best time for a custom mouthguard appointment is at the start of a sports season, after any change in fixed orthodontic appliances, or after a noticeable growth spurt. The process takes two short visits: an impression or scan, then a fitting once the lab has produced the guard. Colours can be chosen, which sounds trivial but matters for compliance: a child who likes their guard wears it.
A good fitting also includes a quick lesson in how the guard should sit and feel, what “slightly snug” feels like compared with “too tight”, and how to spot the early signs that the bite is shifting underneath it. Five minutes of that conversation is often more valuable than the guard itself.
For families in Westcliff-on-Sea, Southend-on-Sea, and the wider Essex area, our team at Westcliff Dental Practice fits custom sports mouthguards for children of all ages, including those with fixed braces. To book a fitting before the next season starts, or after a growth spurt has changed the fit of an existing guard, please call us on 01702 344 500.
