Australasian Dentist Issue 92

116 AUSTRALASIAN DENTIST LABS “To be perfectly clear, the main advantage of wearing a mouthguard is to protect one’s teeth or jaw bone from harmful impact,” says Matthew Smith, General Manager and Group Director for Production at Andent. With that comment, the experienced leader of the Melbourne-based dental lab derailed my thought locomotive. I had just cited a study conducted at the University of Pittsburgh which found that pro athletes wearing a custom-fitted mouthguard – as opposed to wearing a boil-and-plate guard or not wearing one at all – helped them project a higher degree of force and power. Other research exploring the same correlation applied to taekwondo athletes and pro golfers also suggest similar findings – of boosted performance when the custom-made device was worn. Of course, Smith would be right in choosing to tread cautiously. None of the research has concluded any physiological relationship between donning the device and the wearer’s performance. Don’t be distracted Andent is one of Australia’s leading purveyors of Proformmouthguards, the lab- processed professional grade mouthguards used by both pro and amateur athletes. You would be hard-pressed (pun intended) to find another mouthguard blank in the world that could rival in the area of softness, tensile strength, shape- retention and density. It’s the same product elite athletes playing contact sports at the highest level count on to protect their pearlies. Some of them would even go as far as to claim performance boosting attributes, real or imagined. As far as Smith is concerned, that’s a hearsay benefit that detracts from the real issue. Concussion, knocked out teeth, broken jaw, cut cheeks, split lips, cuts to the face ... now these are the primary reasons why athletes wear a mouthguard. And only a custom-fitted mouthguard, Smith maintains, can comprehensively protect an athlete from these injuries. “The most important aspect of a custom-fitted mouthguard is exactly that – because it’s made and crafted precisely for that individual patient,” he says. “It’s moulded to their dentition so it’s a perfect fit.” Achieving a perfectly fitted mouth­ guard, the technical honcho would have you know, is a major preoccupation at Andent. “If it’s loose and moving around, it’s not really adding any comfort or any sort of protection,” he asserts. “The comfort and robustness of the mouthguard primarily depends on how well it fits in the mouth then followed by the proper use of impact material.” Play it safe, sport You don’t have to be an athlete to know the importance of playing it safe. The mouthguard is one of the most important pieces of safety equipment for both pro- level and amateur athletes – imperative for protecting one’s teeth, jaw and even neck. With so much at stake, Andent is not mucking around. Their Proform range of mouthguards, night guards and snore appliances are recognised for being competitively priced and living up to their stated purpose. In the case of the sports mouthguards, the manifest goal is maximum protection for high-contact sports. Boil-and-bite mouthguards, in Smith’s estimation, simply do not cut it. “There are so many things that could go wrong with a boil-and-bite,” he adds, “for example, if they are not heated or fitted properly.” With a custom-fitted mouthguard, Smith says every element, every material and process are controlled for optimum efficiency and accuracy. “We’re using all the thermoplastic materials designed for mouthguards. True to Proform Andent’s pressure laminated mouthguards are designed to fit better and last longer By Danny Chan