Buy Guide

The Ultimate Buying Guide For Mouthguards

Since mouthguards come in all shapes, materials and sizes, it can be difficult to find the one that best suits your preferred level of comfort without minimizing protection. It's amazing how many people take this essential piece of protection equipment for granted. If you like the way your teeth look, and do contact sports, then you need a mouthguard.

For such a small piece of equipment, mouthguards tend to generate their fair share of confusion ranging from: What is the best mouthguard? Why is my mouthguard uncomfortable? How do I fit my mouthguard? What mouthguard is best for my sport?

This buying guide will provide you with the answers to any mouth guard related question you may have by breaking the process down to 4 different categories.

How To Choose Your Mouthguard

One of the most important factors all athletes must consider before heading out to their sport is that their teeth are well protected. Training and game related injuries have long been the cause of serious dental problems.

The right mouthguard should offer both comfort and protection. You don’t want to wear something that makes you feel uncomfortable and susceptible to injury. A well fitted mouthguard should not require the clenching of teeth to hold it in, nor should it become loosely positioned in your mouth while actively engaged in your sport.

If you constantly worry about your mouthguard falling out and it becomes an irritating distraction, your performance will be negatively affected. If this occurs, you should consider purchasing a new guard.

What Features Should A Mouthguard Have

1) Industry Leading Protection

Wearing an appropriately designed mouth guard while participating in your specific sport will protect you against dental injuries and help you perform better. Players of all ages involved in sports and activities where there is a possible risk of injury to the face should protect their teeth with a properly fitted mouth guard.

Nxtrnd strives to produce the most protective, performance enhancing and comfortable mouth guards on the market. We don't just make standard mouth guards, we make a mouth guards specific to your sport that actually improve your performace by providing optimal protection.

2) Communicate & Breathe Easily

At Nxtrnd, we individually engineer specific mouth guard models to better accomodate certain sports. We know how important it is to have a mouth guard designed to fit your exact mouth structure allowing for optimal airflow and the ability to breathe, drink and speak clearly helping you play better. To find the best mouth guard for your needs, please see our section entitled "What Mouthguard is Best for You".

3) Impact Absorbtion

When you mold your Nxtrnd mouth guard by carefully following the fitting instructions, your mouthguard will be in it's best position to absorb and deflect blows to the mouth and jaw, giving you maximum protection from impact and serious injury.

4) Durable Materials

If you have a habit of chewing and destroying your mouth guards, we recommend our Nxtrnd Rush or Classic models. These models are made of a more dense material providing more resistance to chewing, keeping the guard safe without sacrificing comfort. Furthermore, rips and tears in mouth guard material cause irritation to the gums and lips increasing the chance of mouth infection.

Nxtrnd Mouthguard Benefits

Different Types Of Mouthguards

Not all mouthguards are the same. There are 5 main types, depending on your needs. Keep reading to learn about the different types, including which ones are best for certain situations.

What are the types of mouthguards?

Stock Mouth Guards

Stock mouth guards do not require molding of any sort. They are designed to fit your mouth directly out of the packaging. These mouth guards are typically bulky in feel and uncomfortable, however, they are a good solution when in need of a quick fix before a game. We do not recommend stock mouthguards as they are our least favorable of the varieties available.

Boil and Bite Mouth Guards

Nxtrnd Sports Mouthguard Also known as "Mouth Adapted Mouthguards". These are the most popular types of mouthpieces. They are designed so the end-user can customize the fit at home by molding them to their teeth with hot water. This feature helps increase the level of protection and comfort while being affordable. What makes these models the preferred choice among amateur and professional athletes is their retail accessibility and easy molding process. For a great performing boil-and-bite Mouthguard, we recommend the Nxtrnd Rush. The Rush is a highly versatile guard designed for ease of speech and breathability. It's versatility has enabled it to make a name for itself outside the sport of football. In fact, this guard is worn in most contact sports requiring high-end protective gear including basketball, boxing, MMA, hockey, and lacrosse. Available in multiple colors, this guard can be purchased on Amazon.com or through Nxtrnd's website.

Lip Protector Mouth Guards

Nxtrnd Football Mouthguard If you watch football, you might have seen athletes wearing what looks like a big pacifier in their mouth. In fact, these gridiron athletes are actually wearing what is called a Lip Guard or Lip Protector. Because football is a high contact sport, protecting your mouth on the inside and out is extremely important. Flying fingers and hands are very common as various players attempt to tackle or hold each other off. It only takes a slight change in movement for that outstretched hand that was aiming for a shoulder to reach through the helmet and smack the athlete in the face instead, and if the offender in question has long or ungroomed nails, this can be a major safety hazard. These incidents usually result in cuts, lacerations, and often times even full-on cosmetic surgeries are required to fix the injury. However, the lip guard helps surround the entire mouth and prevents this from happening.

Whether you are playing in a youth, high school, college, or professional football league, a lip guard is a wise choice when it comes to football mouth guards.

If you are in search of a good football mouthguard then the Nxtrnd ONE football mouthguard is the perfect option for you.

Mouth Guard for Braces

Nxtrnd Braces Mouthguard Braces mouth guards protect the braces as well as your teeth, jaw and mouth from hard impacts. A well designed braces mouthguard will provide a channel in the front part of the guard to accomodate the braces brackets and offer extra width to cover the braces, teeth and gums. The braces guard should offer the same level of protection as a regular mouth guard and should fit comfortably without reducing your ability to breath. Since braces alter the position of teeth, getting a custom molded mouthguard from your dentist or a OTC boil-and-bite mouthguard may become ineffective, uncomfortable, and provide less protection after a few weeks. For the best protection and comfort, we recommend a no-boiling required mouth guard designed to conform to brace brackets for instant comfort and lip laceration prevention. These kind of mouthguards are made of medicale grade silicone which enable them to adapt to changes in mouth structure as teeth adjust. The Nxtrnd Braces mouthguard is ideal for athletes with braces. Available in multiple colors, this guard can be purchased on Amazon.com or through Nxtrnd's website.

Double Mouth Guards

Covering both upper and lower teeth, double mouth guards are perfect for people in combat sports where the majority of impacts are made to the face. Double mouthguards can also be beneficial for athletes with upper and lower orthodontic braces. Most double mouth guards can not be boiled to fit, they usually require clenching to stay in the athletes mouth and feature a small breathing hole in the material between upper and lower teeth bitting pads. Although these types of mouth guards are most popular in boxing and mma gyms, the majority of professional boxers and mma athletes do not wear double mouth guards.

Mouthguards Designed For Your Sport

Before purchasing your mouthguard, you should look for the model that has it's design and features specifically related to your individual sport. In fact, every sport that you participate in has its own set of rules and regulations regarding the different levels of protection that are required. For example, Football players and boxers might need a higher degree of protection than a volleyball player.

Wearing a face shield?

If you wear a face shield, you may want to look into a mouthguard featuring a removable strap such as the Nxtrnd ONE Mouthguard. For full body contact sports like football and lacrosse, we recommend a low profil mouth guard with lip shield that protects against lip lacerations and upper lower jaw collisions.

Have Braces?

If you have braces, the mouthguard must not interfere with the brackets or wires. We recommend a mouthguard engineered specifically for use with braces that prevents irritation and discomfort. Mouthguards designed for braces feature a special channel to fit over brackets and wires without affecting orthodontic alignment. We recommend the Nxtrnd Braces Mouthguard.

Don't wear a face shield?

If your sport doesn't require face shields, we recommend mouthguards that feature more frontal protection and that keep your teeth protected from arm and elbow impacts. Such as our Rush and Classic models.

Are Mouthguards Safe

A well fitted mouth guard will minimize the risk of broken teeth and injuries to the mouth area by cushioning impacts to the face.

Certifications

Throught independent testing, NXTRND™ mouthguards are certified Level 3 Protection (Level 3 being the highest). By choosing NXTRND™, you can be reassured that the product you are putting in your mouth is FDA approved and tested, does not contain harmful materials, and will protect you from contact related injuries. For every purchase made on the NXTRND™ website we provide a 100% satisfaction guarantee as well as an unlimited defective warranty on all our mouthguards.