Speed Enhancement for Mandibular Versus Maxillary Kinesiologically–Designed Mouthguard Wearers

Objectives: To explore explosive speed in wearers of kinesiologically-designed maxillary and mandibular mouthguards (MGs) versus not wearing a MG.
Methods: Maxillary and mandibular impressions and bite registration of 29 participants were taken. Participants consisted of 7 males and 22 female athletes ranging in age from 18 to 26 years old. Bite registrations were taken by setting the participant’s bite in the position where there was a perceived increase in resistance to a deltoid muscle strength test. Maxillary and mandibular MGs were fabricated using 3mm clear Erkoflex discs in an Erkoform-3D+ with Occluform-3 thermoformer. Participants ran 15 sprints across the University of St. Thomas basketball court measuring 137 feet. Each participant was timed starting from one wall of the court until they touched the opposite wall. In random order, 5 sprints were run without a MG, 5 with a maxillary MG, and 5 with a mandibular MG. Each participant received at least 1 minute of rest between sprints.
Results: Mean times showed participants were 0.28% faster with maxillary MGs and 0.58% faster with mandibular MGs compared to no MG. Furthermore, 75% of the participants had their fastest average times while using a MG. Linear mixed modeling was conducted to assess change in the average speed between sprints run with no MGs, maxillary MGs, and mandibular MGs. A mixed model, multilevel analysis accounted for variation of each participant’s ability. Compared to mandibular MGs, speed was not significantly different for maxillary MGs and no MG, t=1.39, p=0.17, and t=.713, p=0.48, respectively. Speed differences were not statistically significant.
Conclusions: Kinesiologically-designed MGs, maxillary or mandibular, do not enhance or diminish speed performance in athletes. This finding shows there is no effect on performance when wearing a MG and therefore no reason for athletes not to wear one for dentoalveolar impact protection.