Saturday 23 April 2011

New mouth guard a big change for sports


In today's sporting world, the mouth guard has become just as crucial as any other piece in an athlete's equipment bag.
The boil-and-bite model prevalent for decades is now taking a back seat to new technology that's using science to improve athletic performance.
Dr. Ash Kler of Nature's Design Dental Spa in Tsawwassen recently began working with Under Armour's latest innovation.
Under Armour Performance Mouthwear is a new style of mouth guard that offers optimal protection and allows an athlete to excel in their sport with increased strength and endurance.
According to Under Armour, it also increases the airway exchange, making it easier to breath and decreases the cortisol, the stress hormone released when clenching the jaw.
Part of what Kler does at his practice is called neuromuscular dentistry, which is "determining the position where the muscles are relaxed and then building your teeth to those positions," as he explains it.
Kler says if you are clenching your jaw, your muscles have to work very hard and a part of the brain called the reticular activating system, which acts as the centre of co-ordination for movement in the body, also has to dedicate much of its function to holding the mouth in that position.
What Under Armour has done with its mouth guard is allow for the muscles in the mouth to relax with the addition of two small bite tabs where the molars meet.
"What that bite tab does is sort of unlocks your bite a little bit, sort of at a very rudimentary level," says Kler. "And by doing that it allows your jaw to go to more of a relaxed position.
"What that does is frees up a greater part of your brain to work on other things. You find, with this, your balance improves and certain other functions get slightly better because now that part of your brain is free to focus on the rest of your body."
Many professional athletes, including Canadian greats Jarome Iginla, Jonathan Toews and Shea Weber, who all wore it during the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver, have backed the mouth guard.
As for the standard boil-and-bite mouth guard, Kler says there's no comparison.
"Unlike the boil-and-bite mouth guards, this is specifically designed to fit to your teeth. In fact, the boil-and-bite mouth guards have been shown to have the exact opposite effect. They actually decrease performance and endurance, just because a lot of the times your bite is incorrect in them."
Kler says the procedure to get one of these new products is quite simple: "You come in, we take a couple of molds of your teeth and about two weeks later we have a mouth guard for you."

Source link: http://www.delta-optimist.com/sports/mouth+guard+change+sports/4662874/story.html

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