DAMAGED TEETH
It is often said that 'Prevention is better than cure' and this is especially true in the case of human teeth. Human teeth are the least capable part of the human body to repair themselves after an injury.

CONTACT SPORTS
Anyone that participates in a Contact Sport is vulnerable to a Dental Injury. Contact Sports include such sports as Football, Field Hockey, Kick Boxing, Ice Hockey, etc. In fact any sport where a player is likely to make contact with a hard object. The solution is to wear a Playsafe Custom Made Mouthguard.

ORTHODONTIC APPLIANCES
Many young sports players will be undergoing Orthodontic Treatment and wearing fixed or removable braces. They should wear a Playsafe Mouthguard if they participate in Contact Sports as a sudden impact to their face could otherwise result in the wire work of their braces lacerating the soft tissues of the inside of their lips and cheeks.

HISTORY OF MOUTHGUARDS
Boxing is thought to have been the first sport to use Gumshields or Tooth Guards as they were then called. The original Gumshield or Toothguard was no more than a preformed rubber rim that fitted over the top teeth. Technology has improved since those early days of tooth protection and we are now able to make Playsafe Custom Made Sports Mouthguards that fit like a glove, are not bulky and allow easy speech.

PLAYSAFE MOUTHGUARDS AND CURRENT LEGISLATION
Mouthguards, (Gumshields or Toothguards) come under the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) legislation. Manufacturers of Mouthguards/Gumshields and Toothguards must comply with this piece of legislation and demonstrate this by permanently sealing the CE mark in its recognizable form of black print on a white background within the Mouthguard, (Gumshield or Toothguard).

There are two types of Mouthguards (Gumshields or Toothguards) available:

BOIL AND BITE MOUTHGUARDS/GUMSHIELDS/TOOTHGUARDS
These are available in sports and chemist shops and may be placed in boiling water and then moulded to the tooth arch. However they tend to thin out in the very areas where protection is required and also be of a loose fit which during exertion may cause them to become dislodged and trapped in the sports players airway causing suffocation. Toothguard and Gumshield are very much the old fashioned name for Mouthguards. The word Gumshield was mainly used by Boxers and the word Toothguard was mainly used by dentists. Both these words Toothguard and Gumshield have been replaced by the word Mouthguard.

CUSTOM MADE SPORTS MOUTHGUARDS
These are the preferred type as they are Custom Made to moulds taken of the players upper and lower tooth arches by a dentist.

The Playsafe Mouthguard is a Hi-Tech Custom Made Sports Mouthguard which is made by using several layers of different plastics which are pressure laminated together like laminated glass so as to make a very impact absorbing mouthguard. For instance the Heavy Type Playsafe Mouthguard contains Resilient Energy Transmission Lines which are placed over the delicate areas of the biting surfaces of the teeth and will rebound and accelerate the transmission of the destructive energy away from the site of impact thus enhancing the mouthguards protection of the teeth.

So whatever Contact Sport you play always wear a Playsafe Mouthguard.