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PHOTOS: Getty Images (Al Harrington, Brandon Jennings); Barrett Pierce
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Watching Their Mouths
By Andrew Kallick, Los Angeles Barrett Pierce plays the hard-nosed style of basketball that coaches love to see. So the 17-year-old did not think twice when diving headfirst for the ball near center court in the final minutes of a crucial league game for Brentwood School in Los Angeles. But Pierce’s aggressiveness cost him when a player from the opposing team dove for the same ball, driving Pierce’s head into the hardwood. When Pierce came to, he had a bloody mouth and his two front teeth were on the court in front of him. Had Pierce been using a mouth guard, it might have saved his teeth. "I dive for loose balls all the time; it’s almost second nature” says Pierce, whose accident occurred last season. "This time, I was unlucky and lost my two front teeth." Now, he says, he wears a mouth guard "whenever I play, even if it is a pick-up game at the park.” Spectators and players haven't always considered basketball to be the type of sport that requires any type of extra pads or protection, but an increasing number of high school, college and professional players are choosing to wear mouth guards, thanks to a push from some sports dentists and advances in technology that have made it easier to produce comfortable custom-fit models. Ray Padilla, president of the Academy for Sports Dentistry and dentist for UCLA athletics, the L.A. Galaxy and the U.S. National soccer teams, said he and his colleagues have seen an increase in the number of athletes requesting custom-fit mouth guards. "They should be worn in any sport where there’s a chance of facial trauma, such as an elbow to the face, because orofacial injuries can be prevented,” Padilla said. Orofacial injuries include chipped or broken teeth, damage to gums, jaw injuries and fractures. Dr. Padilla attributes the spread of mouthguards to the availability of custom-made pressure-laminated mouthguards. "This custom-made type fits properly, the athlete can talk and breathe easily and the mouthguards are comfortable and protective," he said. NBA'S INFLUENCE
Mouth guards are especially important in the National Basketball Association, where the fast, physical style of play heightens the risk of collisions and falls. NBA stars are often shown on television chomping and gnawing on their mouth guards at the free-throw line and during timeouts. And young people are modeling their behavior. "I have been wearing a mouth guard for so long now that I don't even think about it,” Denver Nuggets power forward Shelden Williams said in a statement. "I wear a mouthpiece to protect my teeth because being a physical post player, there is always a risk of getting hit in the mouth.” Many players have resisted wearing mouth guards because they make it hard to breath and talk. "In a team sport like basketball, communication is one of the most important elements,” says Harvard men’s basketball coach Tommy Amaker. "I personally have found the mouth guard to make communication with your teammates difficult.” While most college and professional teams make custom mouth guards for their players, they do not require their players to wear them, deferring to players' preferences. "I fit all of the basketball players for mouth guards, but only about half of them wear one," says University of Kansas head physician Larry Magee. "I see players lose or chip teeth about once a year. We are taking a big step in the right direction, and I highly recommend using a mouth guard,” Even at the professional level, players resist. "Most guys don't like them,” Los Angeles Lakers head trainer Gary Vitti says. "Some try them and then stop using them. I think they help protect your teeth, but in basketball, there is so much talking; it's tough.” BOIL-AND-GO? NO. The key to mouth protection is finding the right fit. "Over 90% of the mouth guards worn are of the variety bought at sporting goods stores,” Padilla says. But these so-called boil-and-go mouth guards, which sell for between $5 and $25, can get compressed during molding and offer less protection. Padilla says they also are made of low-quality plastic that players can easily chew, and they cannot achieve the proper fit of a custom-made mouth guard. "There’s no such thing as a boil-and-you're-ready-to-go-mouth guard,” Padilla says. "They’re not mouth guards. They don’t properly fit.” Custom-fit guards like the pros wear are now increasingly available to ordinary athletes. Dentists across the country are starting to offer high-quality, custom-fitted mouth guards in their offices. Dentists take a mold of a patient’s teeth and then send it out for manufacturing. These mouth guards are formed to the exact shape of the player’s jaw and teeth, so they're less likely to become loose. They're not cheap. "The price of one of these custom mouth-guards is anywhere between $75 and $250,” Padilla says. "This is much less than the cost of repairing or replacing a damaged or lost tooth.” NEW TECHNOLOGY Bite Tech, along with Under Armour, recently introduced a new technology that the companies say increases athletes' strength, endurance and reaction time. Bite Tech claims on its website that the mouth guard provides better air flow and creates less stress on an athlete's jaw.
One of Bite Tech’s biggest promoters is Brandon Jennings, a point guard for the Milwaukee Bucks. "As a rookie, I am up against guys who have played in the league for years, so I look for any way to gain an edge,” Jennings says. "Since wearing ArmourBite, I've been much more relaxed at the line, shooting over 80%. Also, most mouth guards I've worn over the years make it really hard to breathe and talk on the court, but this is the opposite." Bite Tech Chief Marketing Officer Bob Molhoek attributes the spread of mouth guards in the NBA to three developments: the fast tempo of the game, heightened education about the guards, and their performance-enhancing qualities. But many veteran NBA players are holding out. Lakers team dentist Jeffrey Hoy says that NBA players have a certain routine that is tough to break by the time they are professionals. "It starts with youth education, because when they get to the pros, it is already too late,” Hoy says. Brentwood School's Pierce got his education the hard way. "I see more and more high school players wearing them because guys like LeBron James wear one, and if LeBron wears one, then people will catch on,” Pierce says. "A lot of the guys on my team are starting to wear a mouth guard because they saw what happened to me. I would urge others to buy one before it is too late.” | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
