Cotton, tape, sponge, and wood were the first recordings of materials used for mouth protection. In 1890 a London dentist by the name of Woolf Krause created the first device that most represented our modern day mouth guard. The material he had used was tree sap (gutta percha) which acts as a natural thermoplastic. Dr. Krause's son would improve upon his father's invention and use vella rubber to create his mouth guards. The demand for these devices came out of the sport of boxing as teeth would cause lacerations so bad that fights were stopped and called as a result. Therefore, in the beginning, these devices were initially created to protect soft tissue, and not necessarily the teeth. This is the reason why English people still refer to mouth guards as "gum shields" as that was the name first given to these apparatuses.
Mouth Guards Today
Over a hundred years later we now see mouth guards being used for all sporting activities. There are also now a variety of materials that mouth guards are made from. The most common materials being EVA, silicone, polyurethane, and Damage Control's Damprotech™. Along with the advancement of materials there are now many mouth guard technologies and mouth guard varieties to choose from. The mouth guard types that are available are vast. There are stock mouth guards, boil and bite mouth guards, custom mouth guards, double mouth guards, mouth guards for braces, lip guards ( also know as Pacifier mouth guards or Binky mouth guards), and flavored mouth guards. In the upcoming series of blogs, we will be talking about the pros and cons of all these different types of mouth guards that are currently available on the market. We will also talk about the different types of materials available for mouth guards, and the pros and cons of each material.
