talk to me about mouth guards

[dorasee]

I don't want to pay £50 for a customised mouth guard (through an organisation doing fittings at the schoolschool). What cheaper options are there? It's for rugby.

sports direct?

You can pay £5 for a ready-made one that won't fit.

You can pay £15 for a boil and fit one that will sort of fit.

You can try to find an NHS dentist that provides a fitted one for free, with the long-term view that prevention is less expensive than treating maxillofacial injury.

The Shock Doc ones are pretty good, they are boil and fit, cost about £15.

DSs Rugby coach sells the boil ones for £2 each (he gets them in bags of 100)
we have them dotted all over the house
they take just minutes to fit

or get a couple of these
www.decathlon.co.uk/rugby-mouthguard-id_5976705.html

get the cheap ones until all the adult teeth are in place. we seem to be replacing ds's (9) every week at the moment as new teeth keep appearing.

Thank you so much! I really appreciate the replies. I feel a bit guilty because I want to prevent and protect, but at £50 a pop it's a big expense for me right now. I am hoping for cheaper options with the same (or close enough) level of protection. Orthodontically speaking, the fit of the £50 guard will be better, I am sure. But is the level of protection that much greater than say the decathlon one? Thanks again.

I asked at DS's NHS dentist & they said would charge about the same as Opro. It's not an NHS provided option. I think I paid £35 for the school/Opro service at the start of this term.

Yep, we are bigs fans of the £15 boil and fit variety. I wouldn't go ultra cheap. But I have shelled out for a proper opro one and my dc always have tooth movement during a year.

Buy a couple and have one spare in the cupboard for the inevitable loss, whether tooth or mouth guard

The Decathlon one you heat up till it softens and then bite down on it for about 4 minutes (a couple of cat videos on you tube) as it cools and sets to exactly fit the teeth

DS is barred from playing without one

and YYY to get cheap as they keep losing them : we are on about number 15

I recommend the Makura ones. They have gel in them so they fit better and are more comfortable. They can be remoulded a couple of times at least. About £8 or £9 I think.

NHS dentist
Free

NHS Dentist = none round here with space on their lists

We couldn't get on with the £2 boil and bite mouthguards from Sports Direct: we tried again and again with a number of them but they just didn't mould properly. But when we paid a bit more (£12 I think) for a similar Opro mouthguard it worked well.

Opro ones are very good.

Our orthodontist sells them for £15. You can keep remoulding them as the brace and teeth change.

DS had a dayglo orange one - but he lost it in the mud .... so I assume they are disposable for the next few years!
But yes, the Opro ones are better

Have you considered attaching a ribbon to the mouth guard tag and hanging it around the child's neck? That's what we did when at school back in the Dark Ages of the Eighties.

Have you considered attaching a ribbon to the mouth guard tag and hanging it around the child's neck?

That's one way to get strangled in a scrum.

DSs orthodontist is horrified by the Opro fitted ones. He recommend the boil and ite sort as you can remould them. The child is growing all the time and the teeth are moving so it is good to be able to adjust it during the season. He said he would write a strong letter to the school if they tried to insist on the fitted Opro ones.

We get the Opro boil and bite ones, so not he cheapest but not too expensive. Usually the DSs need two in a season for one reason or another,

Friend is a dentist & having asked their DS had Opro fitted at school all through secondary.

Wow thank you for all of your incredibly helpful responses! I am so grateful. Yes the school is offering an Opro fitting, but at £42-49 it is just too dear. We did it last year and of course with the teeth shifting and changing, it is expensive being short term and all. I think I will try Opro's boil and bite. Thanks a million!

We buy the Opro gold boil and bite ones, and they are much easier than the cheap ones (which we still have a few of jic).

Pretty sure you can't get them on the NHS in Scotland at least. If you could, dh would definitely offer them! FWIW, we shelled out for lab made ones (but got at cost as dh is a dentist). The lab bill alone (for the lab we used) was £30 though, and by the time you factor in the dentists time for an appointment and materials for an impression, you can see why they're not cheap, and yes, they do need adjusting and eventually replacing as the teeth change. Mind you, an implant to replace a missing tooth would be around £2.5k+. We have used boil & bite ones in the past, but were never 100% happy with the fit, though I suspect the crookedness or otherwise of dcs teeth might be a factor (our dc will need ortho).

DC's schools both offered the expensive fitted ones. My kids had the cheap boil and bite ones.

I'd pay more if I had a DC who was mad keen on rugby or hockey but neither of mine are - DS is keen on karate and they have to wear them for sparring competitions, but there's not supposed to be any contact to the face so it's only an emergency backup anyway.

I have shelled out for Opro ones for 2 x DS for 2 consecutive years and this year the boys (both mad on rugby) begged me not to as they said that they don't fit properly and were always really uncomfortable and made their mouth/teeth sore! Have gone with cheaper ones and no complaints plus I'm not a nagging mother worried that they will lose them!

I played field hockey, not rugby. I didn't think about that, but agree a leash would not be wise for rugby. labeling the mouth guard with a nontoxic sharpie could help it find its way home if lost.