Best Mouthguard for MMA: Why “Custom” Doesn’t Always Mean Better Protection

When you step into the cage, your mouthguard is your first line of defense against broken teeth. But not all custom mouthguards are created equal — especially for MMA fighters. In fact, the wrong design can leave you vulnerable even if it’s made by a dentist. At Damage Control Mouthguards, we’ve spent years studying the science behind mouthguard thickness, material performance, and fit to create what we believe is the best mouthguard for MMA — one engineered specifically for combat sports, not just molded to your teeth.

When it comes to mouthguards, the conventional wisdom goes something like this:

• Stock: Cheap and uncomfortable — essentially useless.

• Boil and Bite: Slightly better than stock, but still far from ideal.

• Custom Fit: The gold standard.

But here’s the problem: Custom fit doesn’t automatically mean best protection.

My First Custom Fit Mouthguard Experience

My very first custom-fit mouthguard was made by my wife, Dr. Vesna Delic Romero (now Chief Dental Officer at Damage Control Mouthguards) in her dental practice. It was expertly fitted, beautifully crafted, and incredibly comfortable. It snapped right on. I could breathe, talk, and even drink water without removing it.

There was just one problem: I was training in Jiu-Jitsu at the time, and looking back, that mouthguard wasn’t thick enough to truly protect me in a potentially high-impact sport.

The Search for the Right Thickness

When I launched Damage Control Mouthguards, my first customers were MMA and Jiu-Jitsu athletes. I wanted to ensure their mouthguards offered maximum protection. My early instinct was simple — thicker must be better.

But thicker isn’t always better. Overly thick mouthguards can obstruct breathing and, if your lips fit tightly around them, may actually increase the risk of soft tissue injury.

So how thick should a mouthguard be? That’s where I hit a wall — there was no U.S. standard to answer that question.

Partnering with Sandia National Laboratories

To solve this, we partnered with Sandia National Laboratories (yes, the same facility that developed the first nuclear bomb) and worked with a chemical engineer to answer two key questions:

1. What is the optimal thickness for a mouthguard?

2. What are the best materials available for the custom-fit mouthguard market?

From our own testing and multiple literature reviews, we developed what we now call Function Informed Design. Instead of asking customers how thick they want their mouthguard — which often leads to over- or under-protection — we determine the optimal thickness based on their sport and body type, backed by decades of dental and fabrication expertise.

Why a Dentist-Made Guard Isn’t Always Best

Here’s the truth: most dentists aren’t trained in mouthguard thickness standards, nor should they be — their role is clinical, not fabrication. In fact, I’d estimate that 99% of the time, dental offices outsource their mouthguards to external labs that also lack sport-specific thickness expertise.

I once trained with an MMA fighter who proudly showed off his custom dentist-made guard. Unfortunately, it was formed from a single 4mm sheet — which compresses to just 2mm in the labial area during thermoforming. That’s nowhere near enough for MMA, or even most contact sports.

And research backs this up: mouthguards made from a single 4mm sheet do not offer significant protection, especially in extreme-impact sports like MMA (source).

The Bottom Line

Custom fit is only as good as the science and craftsmanship behind it. At Damage Control Mouthguards, we don’t guess. We engineer each mouthguard for your sport, your body type, and your performance needs — because “custom” should mean more than just fitted to your teeth.

Written by Delano Romero, Founder and CEO of Damage Control Mouthguards