Mouth Guards Research Paper

The first mouth-guards were created in 1890 by a London dentist, Woolf Krause, to shield boxers from lacerations of the mouth (McCrory, 2001). Sport mouth-guards surfaced in the United States in 1916 when they were produced by a Chicago dentist, Thomas Carlos (Reed, 1994). Sport mouth-guards were primarily used for boxers during the early 1920s and 1930s to prevent a range of dental injuries, most notably cracked teeth. Known by their nickname of “gum shield”, mouth-guards were originally constructed out of gutta percha, wax, cotton, and yella rubber. In 1947, Los Angeles Dentist Rody Lilyquist constructed sport mouth-guards through the use of transparent acrylic resin and acrylic splints (Soleimani, 2015). The American Dental Association started conducting research on sport mouth-guards during the 1950s and officially recommended the use of latex assembled sport mouth-guards in 1960. The National Alliance Football Rules Committee was the first to make sport mouth-guards a mandatory requirement for participation in 1962 (Johnsen, 1991). Following the NAFRC’s lead, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) …show more content…
Research is also supported by the recommendations and support of sport mouth-guard usage by such associations as the National Collegiate Athletic Association, the American Dental Association, and the American Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Injuries are going to occur every day during competitive sports and orofacial injuries can be extremely devastating. It is essential to have adequate protection, especially when trying to protect your mouth and teeth from becoming damaged. Sport mouth-guards are currently the best piece of protective equipment to use for orofacial protection and should be worn by athletes in contact sports as a preventative