When do you need a mouth guard?

If you are doing any partner work we always encourage our participants to use a mouth guard because things happen! Even if the goal of the drill is to not touch - it doesn't hurt to have extra safety, but it is not required for basic partner drills with no contact.

If you are sparring and/or competing you will be required to wear a mouth guard. Rules have recently changed, but you can wear any colour mouth guard in competition (at least locally - ON/Canada - you were not allowed to wear a red or red adjacent colour mouth guard as it resembles the colour of blood).

*Please check with your national sport organization to confirm if the same also applies where you are living/competing.

Most local sport stores will sell mouth guards and/or any shop that sells hockey equipment will definitely have mouth guards for sale - that you can just mold at home with hot water. Although these are the most cost efficient, I would say if you do have the funds to do so - ask your dentist and or find a local custom mouth guard supplier. One that we have seen at locally is: Smartguards (*not affiliated, we have just been introduced to them at local boxing events). The at home molds will work, but these tend to fit tighter and closer to your mouth and also make it feel like they aren't even there!

A few things you don't want in a mouth guard:

1) Too lose/ too easy to take in and out

2) Hard to talk

3) Hard to breathe

Regardless of the mouth guard you do get - at home or custom-made - we highly suggest you start using it on the heavy bag and/or shadowboxing so you get used to wearing one before you start using it with any partner/sparring work. It can be an adjustment to using it so it'll be easier for your session and one less thing to focus on if you have already gotten used to wearing one and breathing with it.

As you know your breath is very important in boxing and at first it can be hard/feel difficult to breathe with a mouth guard in especially if this is your first time ever using one. So by starting to wear it during a regular training session and/or during a run can help you get used to the feeling of having it in, breathing through/with it, and just getting comfortable training with that extra piece of equipment. Hopefully once you have practiced with it a few times it should feel like it is not even there.

Last suggestion we will share is: do not use a new mouth guard for competition! Use it at least a few times before. Like anything else with competition, try not to wear anything new as this will help to mitigate any discomfort.

Let us know what mouth guard brand (store bought or custom made) you use below!