Strength Enhancement for Mandibular Versus Maxillary Kinesiologically–Designed–Mouthguard Wearers in Sports

Objectives: The study investigated explosive strength gains yielded from a custom kinesiologically-designed maxillary mouthguard as opposed to a mandibular mouthguard. Our null-hypothesis is that no significant difference can be established regarding strength increases in subjects with maxillary mouthguards in comparison to mandibular mouthguards or no mouthguard.
Methods: 30 student-athlete participants (22 female, 8 male) had maxillary and mandibular impressions taken. The desired bite position for the bite registration was achieved by the application of a deltoid strength test. Mouthguard fabrication utilized 3mm transparent Erkoflex disks using an Erkoform-3d+ thermoforming machine and an Occluform-3. The subjects participated in an explosive strength test where they tossed a 9-lb medicine ball forward with their backs to the wall in a sitting position. The ball was placed at chest level and the throw distance measured from the wall to first impact with the floor. Each subject attempted fifteen throws, five with a maxillary mouthguard, five with a mandibular mouthguard, and five with no mouthguard. The order was randomly selected as such: mandibular, maxillary, or no mouthguard throw.
Results: An ANOVA model was utilized using two factors without interaction and Tukey method application to account for multiple testing. The adjusted mean distances were: 149 inches for no MG, 151 inches for maxillary MG, and 153 inches for mandibular MG. Comparison of mandibular MG distances to no MG, and Maxillary MG showed an increase of 1% and 1% respectively. Furthermore, comparison of maxillary MG to no MG also had an increase of 1%.
Conclusions: A kinesiologically-designed mouthguard could improve explosive strength performance among their wearers. These findings have the potential of making amateur and professional athletes utilize mouthguards not just for impact protection, but for performance enhancement as well. More research studies with larger subject sizes are desired to further understand the benefits offered by kinesiologically-designed mouthguards.