When it comes to extreme sports, boxing is definitely one of the top sports in the world. Along with speed, precision, strength, and agility, boxing also demands mental toughness in order to take punches directly on your face.
Whether you’re a beginner boxer or a seasoned pro player, a proper mouth guard is very important and is a kind of compulsion before entering the ring. Do boxing mouth guards only offer protection to your teeth or do they have some extra benefits? Let see:
So, Why Do Boxers Wear Mouth Guards
Boxers wear mouth guards to provide ample protection to their teeth and gums. A properly fitted mouth guard provides cushioning to the boxer’s teeth and offers protection to surrounding soft tissues and jaw structure by evenly distributing the force.
Keep reading to know more about how wearing a mouth guard benefits you more than just a protection layer to your teeth:
Benefits of Wearing Mouth Guard while Boxing
Even though some people have quite strange opinions about wearing boxing mouth guards, here are some of the most common reasons why you should wear a mouth guard as a beginner boxer:
1. Protect your Teeth from Serious Damage
This is the most obvious benefit of wearing a mouth guard, especially during contact sports like boxing. A nicely fitted boxing mouth guard not only provides protection to your teeth but also protects your other soft tissues like gums, and lips from bleeding.
Mouth guards help you to soften the blows from your opponents by evenly distributing the force across your jaw muscles. It reduces the overall impact on your jaw by providing you with a kind of cushioning and allows you to take punches better on your face.
A mouth guard is built to be worn during fighting sports because not only the direct tooth attacks but these guards also save you from wear and tear of your teeth and accidental cuts to your chicks and gums due to sudden blows.
2. Avoid Big Dental Bills
Without a mouth guard, you become quite venerable to the opponent’s attack during the fight and even a small blow can lead to an unwanted trip to your dentist.
Treatment of mouth injuries is not only physically painful but also puts a lot of pressure on your wallet. On average, a dentist will charge you anything from $500 to $3000, depending upon the seriousness of your damage. (source)
Here, you need to understand, by wearing a mouth guard won’t necessarily ensure that you’re face is now completely protected from any kind of injuries. But, this small yet smart step definitely makes sure you stay in the game and continue your boxing journey!
3. Prevent Long-Term Brain Injuries
No matter what kind of drill you are practicing, standing in the ring without a mouth guard is not cool at all. A direct accidental hit by your opponent can result in a pretty serious and long-term injury.
This may looks strange but so much research already proves that a sudden attack on the loose jaw mostly ends up in the knockouts with blurry visions.
That’s because your jaw muscles are connected with the skull and a direct hit to it increases the chances of you loosing your consciousness with a serious damage to your brain.
By clinching your teeth strongly into a mouth guard, you’re doing nothing but helping yourself to stabilize your jaws and absorb the attach in a much better way.
4. Enhances your Game Positively
As a boxer, you should be aware about the psychological aspect of the boxing and how mental toughness can help you to change the whole paradigm of the match and dominate the ring.
You might heard many popular boxers talking about the importance of positivity and confidence on the final result of the match.
Most of the boxing trainers, even my personal instructor, believes that wearing a mouth guard helps you to feel more secure about yourself by inducing mild hypoxia in your nerves.
I am not saying, just by wearing a small piece of equipment suddenly boost up your self-confidense, but it’s one of those small little things that adds up in the end and give you a solid competitive edge over your opponening boxer.
Basically, once you grab that guard in your jaws, your mentality automatically get stronger and allows you to focus more on the game rather than the risks of severe injuries.
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First invented in the 19th century, a protective mouth guard has become a most important piece of safety gear for boxers.
That’s why, even if you feel like purchasing a quality mouth guard seems to be an expensive option, but trust me it ends up saving you a lot in the long run.
What Are the Best Mouth Guards for Boxing?
choosing a perfect mouth guard can be a tedious task if you don’t know what factors to consider. But why worry, when your girl is here to help you! 🙂
After testing a handful of choices, I’ve compiled this list of best mouth guards for boxers by various aspects like high-quality material, travel case of its hygiene purpose, clear breathability, and of course ample amount of protection.
I recommend you to go with Venom Challenger Mouthguard for its advanced design styling that provides you with sufficient breathability throughout your match.
I personally have good experience with these mouth guards and I love how its outer solid rubber frame enhances the shock-absorption management and provides you robust protection against high-impact hits.
The advanced soft gel-like material seamlessly adjusts to the shape of your mouth and doesn’t feel too uncomfortable. Of course, you get a carry case with this one that makes it easy for you to keep it clean, when not in use.
Things to Consider Before Buying a Mouth Guard?
In any extreme sports, it becomes very difficult for players to continue normal breathing patterns through their noses. That’s why, during heavy breathing, your mouth is going to be somewhat loose and relaxed.
I am not going to bore you by telling you, that you should get the mouth guard that fits perfectly in your mouth and provide you solid protection without needing you to bite too hard on it.
But keep in mind, unlike other sports, boxers need to wait for at least 3 minutes round to be over before you take it out. I am not at all saying, those mouth guards will be comfortable but you should consider all these aspects too before buying one.
I hope you find this article helpful and you understand how important this small piece of equipment is! Make sure you share this article with your friends and help us to grow. Thank you! 🙂
