Gum shields -advice please !

MaryAnne, your Ds sounds a bit like mine was initially. He's never been good with things in his mouth - the dentist was unable to fissure seal his molars & he's always had trouble cleaning his back teeeth without gagging etc. 7 years ago when I first tried to get him to wear a boil & bite he just couldn't do it - even after we'd trimmed it down & everything. We subsequently had an OPRO fitted & though he found the impression taking unpleasant he managed it and could wear the resulting mouthguard (to be fair he used to take it out a lot and didn't find it totally comfortable, but he could and did wear it).

We've been using OPRO ever since (can't believe it's 7 years). Neither of my two are uber sporty either, but they are compulsory at our school and my two are very accident prone so well worth it. I knocked out one of my friends front teeth at school in the days before mouthguards were thought about for school sport so I guess I can appreciate the benefit more than some. Mind you - dd has managed to knock half her front tooth out in any case - but it wasn't in a games lesson!

at dd's school they are compulsory (I think they only play hockey). Dd got teeth impressions done at school last week (£35). It's all new to me so will keep an eye on this thread. Dd not the sporty type which somehow makes me think she realy does need it!

but a hockey ball can hit you in mouth even if you are not very involved

i think he may find opro one more comfortable and so therefore less likely to make him gag

I'm afraid that is the one bit of the kit we didn't bother with. Having taken advice from older boy that had just left the school. Not used unless you really are into violent contact sports.

DO NOT PEREEVERE iwht boil in bag
made ds2 very mad abotu them

DS plays rugby and hockey and has OPRO ones from the school visits

You order them during holiday and then they come the 1st day and impressions taken and then it gets sent out to him

BTW when they have train track braces they deffo need a new one but it still fits during othodontic treatment until teeth have mega moved iyswim

boil in bag ones didn't work for DS

You can also get an OPRO home kit where you take the impression yourself, post it back and they make the mouthguard and return it. If you follow the instructions carefully it's not that hard to do and you get the same result as you get from the school visit team. Would probably be cheaper than the dentist.

aaaah
mary ann
we were there wiht ds2
right oyu need to find a dental manufatruere and see if they do them at the site
there is one in Fordignbridge hants if you are on the south coast.
the dentist charged us triple what he did

Hi, My son plays rugby, football, and hockey at school as well as karate out of it, and needs a mouthguard for when he is in matches, competitions. His school and karate club only recommend the dentist made ones as the boil and bite ones apparently can never fit as well as the ones made from making an impression of the mouth and teeth.

We have always got his through his school which he uses for all his sports. The dentist comes to school at the beg of the school year and does an impression (OPRO) and the mouthgard appears a few weeks later and has always been a perfect fit, It also has his name in it, can't explain properly but its part of the actual mouthguard so it can always bee reunited with him if it happens to get lost. I have just paid £37.45 for his in an urban design! black with a white 'street design'???

This is quite expensive compared to the boil and bite ones but hugely cheaper than my own dentist who quoted me £65. Sept last year so goodness knows the cost of it this year!

However when reconstructive work on front teeth can go into thousands of pounds (no kidding) £37 is really very cheap!

hth

Cat

I play rugby and a lot of women trim the very back of the boil-in-the-bag mouthguards as women seem to have smaller mouths than men. No idea whether it's recommended, but it's often done! I can't see that it would affect their integrity that much... I have a dentist's mould, though, because I am paranoid. Cost me about 35 quid, I think.

Opro usually arrive in 2-3 weeks in my experience MrsGuy. The fitted ones are more comfortable than the boil & bites in my experience - ds would use opro but always struggled hugely with the others.

That's a pity. We just started with a basic Admiral Gum Shield, sold in Asda, as we didn't want to go to the expense of something better if he couldn't bear wearing one.

Quote: "can you trim them"

We bought a gumshield for our son the other week. He had problems with it and said it was uncomfortable. Husband tried helping him put it in - no use.

Anyway, next day I picked up the packet it came in and found myself asking hubby and son if they had read the directions. At first use, the gum shield had to be immersed in boiling water then (when slightly cooled), put into mouth, whereupon you had to bite hard then suck against roof of mouth.

Duly done, the gum guard now fits a treat (according to son).

Have just found this thru search as DS1 is at new school (only new pupil in his calss, so all others have them - DS has never played rugby before )where they are compulsory. Opro visited this week to take impression - will cost £39.95, but no-one has said how long it will take, (and I do not thisnk to ask) so am thinking of buying a temporary one from Argos this weekend as he will otherwise miss two rugby sessions next week. Like Roising's son, he is not ken - thye did some training today and apart forma a bit of mud on the studs the rest of the kit was pristine
Any views on the 'Shock Doctor' Junior I have provisionally reserved from Argos...?

ds1's school says gum shields are optional.

He did "tag rugby" in the rain and the mud on Friday and was very unimpressed by the whole experience. (He's fit - we do a lot of walking/hiking - but he isn't well co-ordinated, and doesn't like traditional 'sport'.) I expected his kit to be caked in mud, but there were only a very few splashes on his shorts, a tiny bit on his socks, even his boots weren't very muddy.

When I questioned him about it he said he mostly just tried to keep out of the way and out of the mud! They only have a 50 min lesson (including getting changed both ends) and there are no showers these days and it's the beginning of the day. So getting completely caked in mud would not have been a great idea.