Whether you’re playing sports, need help preventing sleep apnea, or want to stop grinding your teeth while you sleep, mouthguards are an essential piece of dental equipment that helps you protect your mouth and live a healthier life. As orthodontic professionals, we strongly recommend that anyone participating in sports use mouthguards to prevent tooth breakage or loss. However, mouthguards become especially essential when you’re undergoing orthodontic treatment.
If you have braces or other orthodontic appliances and play sports, mouthguards aren’t just a suggestion; they’re a requirement. Not only can your mouth get seriously injured if you take a hit with brackets and archwires on your teeth, but damaging or losing a tooth can seriously set back your treatment and have a lifelong impact. We also highly recommend mouthguards if you know you grind your teeth at night, as teeth grinding can cause all sorts of issues with your teeth and jaw’s health.
But there are so many different types of mouthguards to choose from, and they can range in cost from $20 to several hundred dollars. With many companies offering either over-the-counter or custom mouthguards, many patients are unsure where to find the best option for their specific situation. So the orthodontists at the American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) are here to help. This helpful guide breaks down the cost of a mouthguard designed to adequately protect your teeth, the different types of mouthguards available, and what factors contribute to determining the cost of a mouthguard.
Mouthguard Costs at a Glance
Mouthguards can cost:
- Anywhere between $20 and $1,000
Factors impacting mouthguard costs:
- Level of customization
- Cost of materials used
- Type of mouthguard needed
Types of mouthguards:
- Over-the-counter $ (no customization, least protection)
- Boil-and-bite $$ (some customization, better protection)
- Fully custom-made $$$ (fully custom, best protection)
The Average Cost of a Decent Mouthguard
If you simply search “mouthguards for sale” or “mouthguards for braces,” you’ll likely get dozens of results trying to sell over-the-counter or boil-and-bite mouthguards for around $25-$30. The old adage that you get what you pay for holds true here. Many of these mouthguards are mass-produced and may not be made of the most sturdy materials. While some of them might be okay for light-contact sports normally, having braces makes the situation even more complicated.
Bottom line: If you want a high-quality mouthguard that significantly lessens the chances of injuring your mouth while playing sports with braces, you can expect to spend at least a few hundred dollars.
Why Are Mouthguards So Expensive?
Several factors contribute to the cost of mouthguards. Generally, higher-quality mouthguards will cost more than run-of-the-mill over-the-counter mouthguards. However, the three most common factors impacting the price of your mouthguard are:
- The level of customization
- The type/quality of materials used to make it
- The type of/purpose for using a mouthguard
Custom Mouthguards Will Cost More
As with any product, getting a custom-made mouthguard is quite a bit pricier than grabbing a ready-made one. This has to do with how custom mouthguards are made.
It starts with a dental or orthodontic professional taking an impression of your mouth. This impression is used to create a mold from which your mouthguard is made. The mouthguard is purposefully tailored to fit snugly within your mouth while providing optimal protection. This entire process involves very skilled labor from professionals specially trained to craft mouthguards with the features you need. The skill required to create a custom mouthguard, especially one designed to protect braces as well as teeth, is a large part of the reason they’re much more expensive.
The complexity of the mouthguard also plays a role. If you need a full mouthguard to protect both your upper and lower teeth, it’s going to cost more than a partial mouthguard designed only to protect part of your mouth.
What Your Mouthguard is Made of Determines Cost
A good mouthguard should fit snugly in your mouth to prevent jostling or dislodging. It should be thicker if you need it for contact sports, and more rigid if you’re using it for grinding your teeth at night. However, it should still be flexible enough that it can absorb blows without breaking or tearing apart.
More durable and longer-lasting materials will cost more than materials that aren’t meant to be used long-term. Many high-end sports mouthguards are made of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), which is perfect for absorbing the shock of blows and is highly durable. Cheaper sports mouthguards may utilize polyvinyl chloride (PVC), a much less durable but more cost-effective material.
The type of mouthguard you get will also influence the material it’s made of. There are three types of mouthguards:
- Over-the-counter
- Boil-and-bite
- Custom
Over-the-counter mouthguards offer little customization and are often made of cheaper materials to cut down on the cost of mass production. This is why you can get mouthguards for as low as $20 online.
Boil-and-bite mouthguards are named after the method people use to customize them to their bite. First, the material is boiled, then the patient bites down on it to set it in the shape of their mouth. This provides less customization than a fully custom mouthguard, but more customization than an over-the-counter option.
Custom mouthguards will be specifically designed to fit your exact mouth and purpose. Many custom sports mouthguards are made using an EVA copolymer that is both durable and comfortable. Of course, being made of better materials makes them the most expensive.
What You Need the Mouthguard for Influences Its Price
Just as there are different types of mouthguards, there are also different uses for them. A dental mouthguard to prevent the harmful effects of teeth grinding while sleeping. Mouthguards that are designed to help alleviate sleep apnea are highly specialized and require very specific designs, making them more expensive. Finally, mouthguards for sports require durable, thick materials to absorb the blows from contact sports like Football, Water Polo, and Ice Hockey. The higher quality of the materials needed to make sports mouthguards often leads to higher price tags.
Why You Absolutely Need a Mouthguard
It’s important to wear mouthguards to:
- Protect your teeth and jaw during sports
- Prevent serious mouth injuries from wires or brackets
- Improve tooth health
- Keep dental and orthodontic costs from replacing or repairing teeth low
- Avoid damage to orthodontic appliances
- Make sure nothing interferes with your orthodontic treatment
Even if you don’t have braces, you should always use a mouthguard when playing sports. Rough hits can knock out teeth, disfigure jaws, and permanently mar your smile. Additionally, injuries to your mouth can cause health issues that may lead to further problems, such as difficulty chewing, swallowing, talking, and more.
However, with braces, it becomes necessary to use a mouthguard when participating in sports. Brackets and wires present sharp edges that can cause serious damage to the inside of your mouth if you take a hit without protection. You could still lose teeth or injure your jaw, which would set back your orthodontic treatment. But with a sturdy, well-made mouthguard, you should have nothing to worry about.
If you grind your teeth while you sleep, it’s also necessary to wear a mouthguard. Teeth grinding can damage wires and brackets, interfering with treatment. Sleeping mouthguards prevent you from grinding your teeth by forming a protective barrier.
Get Fitted for Mouthguards by an AAO Orthodontist
If you want a mouthguard to protect your teeth during orthodontic treatment, trust in the orthodontic specialists of the AAO. Whether you need something to protect you while playing sports or are looking for a way to stop grinding your teeth at night, we can help you find what you need. Browse our Find an Orthodontist locator today to discover an AAO orthodontist near you who can fit you for a mouthguard.
