Mouth guards make athletes sick?

Many athletes do not think twice about putting their mouth guards in their mouth when it is time to play their sport. Do athletes even consider how many germs and disgusting bacteria may have formed on their mouth guards after it has been sitting in their bag or case for months and months? Probably not. The truth is, many athletes fail to change or buy new mouth guards when needed for protecting their teeth and against getting concussions! According to the article “Bacteria and germs on athletic mouth guards”, which focuses on a study Dr. Glass from Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences conducted, researchers found that mouth guards can cause a person to get sick. In this study of football and hockey mouth guards, microbial contamination of strep, staph, bacteria, fungi, gastro-intestinal upset, organisms that could produce pneumonia and kidney failures, and mold were all found. If this is not bad enough, after athletes put their mouth guards in their mouth and begin to run, they begin to breathe in the germs and bacteria, causing the risk of the contamination to go to their lungs. This can causes exercise-induced asthma. Many athletes also chew their mouth guards and Dr. Glass says that the ridges formed allows for more germs to grow. He also says that it allows for possible organisms to go into the athletes’ blood stream. Dr. Glass suggests that an athlete should change their mouth guard every two weeks, when realistically athletes generally change them every few months or even longer…

Germs and bacteria grow and increase faster in warm environments. Mouth guards in the summer are usually burning hot when athletes pull them out to use due to the intense heat and having their bags outside most of the time by either keeping their gear in their garages or generally having them outside when playing. Also, mouth temperatures are generally warm so when athletes put their mouth guards in their mouths it is another warm place for bacteria and germs to increase their growth.

When people are commonly in contact with germs and bacteria, they build their immune system and begin to get a better chance of not getting sick. Could dirty mouth guards be helping athletes in the long run by helping build strong immune systems?

Athletes should sanitize their mouth guards on a weekly basis, if not purchase an entire new mouth guard to stay as healthy as possible according to Dr. Glass’s study. If one is more prone to getting sick it may be a good idea, but if one has a track record of rarely getting sick, there may not be a need for change. Click here to read more about Dr. Glass’s study.

Sources:

https://onecellonelightradio.files.wordpress.com/2013/03/health-alert-dangerous-bacteria-in-mouthguards.pdf

http://www.fox23.com/news/news/breaking-news/bacteria-and-germs-on-athletic-mouth-guards/ndjxM/?__federated=1

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1k8-O-CCNfM/UUNhVSjIknI/AAAAAAAAARA/SVqv820NQZs/s1600/Athletic-Mouthguards.gif

3 thoughts on “Mouth guards make athletes sick?

  1. Dutt Patel

    I think this blog was great, it brought more attention to something not many think about. Growing up I played both football and rugby; when my mouthguard fell out of my mouth, I used to put it straight back in my mouth because I didn’t care much. Now learning that bacteria could exponentially grow, on my mouthguard and many athletes don’t by new mouth guards for the entire season is just disgusting. It is also very interesting that you mentioned that dirty mouth guard could lead to a stronger immune system. A study should be done to actually figure out if it negatively affects the human health or positively.

  2. Julia Molchany

    I was not surprised to find the infrequency of which mouth guards are washed or that they collect tremendous amounts of bacteria when they go unwashed. To me, this seems obvious but the lack of players that clean their mouth guards make me question whether they are uneducated or lazy. I have find several websites advocating the proper use and care of mouth guards such as this one: http://www.massdental.org/content.aspx?id=2550

    On another note, I have been arguing with my mother for at least two years, complaining that I get sick from wearing my Invisalign retainer. I brush it out with a toothbrush after every night of wearing it and my mom bleaches it to kill the germs on a regular basis. Yet, every time that I wear it I wake up feeling sick. This article (http://askthedentist.com/how-to-clean-retainers) claims that while the pores in retainers can take in bacteria, it also holds the cleaning materials you use which can cause illness.

    The clear Invisalign retainers, while not exactly the same, are structured very similar to mouth guards. So if even cleaning your retainer can make you sick, is the same true for mouth guards? If the only way to guarantee that you won’t store infectious bacteria in your mouth piece is to replace is weekly, that will quickly become an expensive habit.

  3. Somil Patel

    When I played football during high school, I was guilty of everything the article said not to do. I chewed my mouth guard, stored it in a warm environment, dropped it on the ground and put it back in my mouth, and only changed it once a year. Awareness of this should be higher amongst athletes, as I had never really thought about how disgusting it is until now. It is just commonplace when you’re on the practice field to do all these things.

    However, I wish there was a better solution than simply buying new mouth-guards every week or two. While professional and collegiate athletes are supplied mouth guards, expecting a pee wee football player to buy a $25 mouth guard every week for half the year just seems unreasonable and could discourage many from participating in sports. Could there be an option to buy a higher quality mouth guard that doesn’t get worn down from chewing, and simply clean it every week or so?

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