SISU Blog - Sports Safety Tips, Equipment & More

How a flat hard piece can protect your pearly whites!

Written by Dr. Jan Akervall | Apr 20, 2015 3:30:00 PM

"How on Earth can a 1.6 mm thin mouth guard protect my teeth?"

This is perhaps the most common question we get when we show a SISU Mouthguard to athletes. Yes, it’s comfortable. Yes, you can talk and drink with it. Everyone gets that, but can I really be safe with this snuggly fitting, comfortable mouth guard?

Yes you can; here's how mouthguards work:

SISU is made of a non-compressible material. In our laboratory we have analyzed the material properties in detail and it turns out that

SISU only compresses 1.6% under impact, in comparison to 35% for conventional mouth guards. This means that SISU does not “cave in” under impact, but conventional guards do.

If a mouth guard caves in, the impact will transfer to teeth and if the impact is heavy enough, the teeth will crack. This is one of the reasons why 35% of ice hockey players still get dental injuries, despite wearing a mouth guard.

So what’s the injury rate for SISU Mouthguard users? It is actually an incredible 0.004%! The 1.6 mm thin sports mouth guard basically doesn’t cave in at all under impact – the forces are dissipated, or spread, over the entire mouth guard, away from the teeth, up towards the much stronger upper jawbone. So in comparison where we use the example above where 35% of the hockey players are injured, the likehood of getting a dental injury wearing a conventional mouth guard is about 8,750 times greater.

On top of it, the unique, patented perforations make SISU twice as strong. The perforations allow minimal movements within the material, which additionally absorbs the impact. Think about it, it’s like building a bridge. Just like the composite framework allows motions in the bridge, thus making it stronger, the perforations create the same shock absorbing effect in the SISU Mouthguard.

So don’t worry about getting dental injuries, and don’t worry about wearing a bulky uncomfortable mouth guard anymore. SISU™ will let you focus on your game, communicate with your teammates, and hydrate without removing the guard.

And if you wondered; the word SISU is actually Finnish and means bravery, tenacity and persistance. So go on, give it your all and have that extra sisu by using SISU.

And yes, pun is intended. Blame the editor.

Regards,

Jan Akervall, MD, PhD

CEO Akervall Technologies Inc.

Maker of the SISU Mouthguard

Read about what other scientists write about the importance of a non-compressible mouth guard in sports in this article