This post investigates the topic of sports mouth guards from the viewpoint of safer materials not necessarily teeth protection. After checking out several brands, two non-toxic sports mouth guards stood out as likely reducing your toxin exposure.
My son just started playing flag football, so we are brand new to sports mouth guards. Since the produce will go inside my son’s mouth, I wanted to do a little research on materials and safety before buying one.
What are Sports Mouth Guards Made of?
Sports mouth guards are usually made of food grade silicone or ethylene-vinyl acetate (EVA). I immediately thought of silicone, because I had purchased a silicone mouth guard in the past.
Because food grade silicone is a flexible material, I wasn’t sure it was used to make sports mouth guards, but I was pleased to find out it was as silicone has an excellent reputation for safety.
Are Sports Mouth Guards Toxic?
Much less so than I had assumed before researching for this post. While I wouldn’t consider any plastic present in the mouth a healthful action, sports mouth guards seem to pose very minimal risks.
It turns out that night mouth guards are a more common source of toxins that sports mouth guards. There’s also the fact that sports mouth guards are worn for much shorter periods that night mouth guards.
As with all things, especially something going inside the mouth, buy from a trust-worthy company that performs safety testing. If a company is testing for contaminates, they almost always proudly display it in the product description. If you don’t see any claims, it’s usually safe to assume the brand isn’t testing their products.
Are all Sports Mouth Guards BPA Free?
In theory, many sports mouth guards are BPA free if they are made out of EVA. EVA does not typically contain BPA. But unless the company tests and uses the material they claim they do, you won’t know for sure. A couple of safer sports mouth guards like Shock Doctor and SISU do test and confirm they are BPA free.
You may have also heard that BPS, which is often used in place of BPA, isn’t likely any safer. For more details on this debate, see my non-toxic lunch bag post.
Do Sports Mouth Guards Contain Phthalates or PFAS?
Just like with BPA, sports mouth guards should not contain Phthalates or PFAS, as both silicone and EVA, in theory, are free of those contaminants. To be 100% sure, you will want to purchase from a company that performs quality testing.
Top Choices for Non-Toxic Sports Mouth Guards
There are two brands that seem to do quality testing to ensure their mouth guards are free of major contaminants like BPA, BPS and phthalates.
SISU Sports Mouth Guard
SISU sports mouthguards are made of EVA in the USA and free of BPA, BPS, latex, PVC and phthalates. Their brand highlights are being stronger yet slimmer in design. SISU mouth guards do have to be boiled and shaped to the teeth.
SISU offers five different types of sports mouth guards for different ages and in different thicknesses. Most of their guards work with braces too. This is the mouth guard that we went with simply, because it had slightly higher reviews on Amazon.
We went with their Aero sports mouth guard, which is 50% thinner than traditional mouth guards but claims to be 30% stronger. We’re only a few weeks into our flag football season, so I can’t speak the longevity or protection just yet.
You boil and shape these mouth guards, and it took us two tries to get a good fit for my son. You can boil and reshape them up to 20 times.
Shock Doctor Sports Mouth Guards
Shock Doctor mouth guards are made of medical-grade silicone. They are marketed as latex, BPA and Phthalate free and come in various sizes and styles.
The sports guard above doesn’t have to boiled and fit to your teeth, which I have to admit sounds like a nice easy button feature.
Two out of the four variations highlight that they work with braces. We haven’t tried this brand yet, but I may give it a go next season and see how it compares to SISU.
As far as pricing is concerned, Shock Doctor Mouth Guards are a bit cheaper than SISU but thankfully neither are terribly expensive.
Conclusion
SISU and Shock Doctor are both good options for non-toxic mouth guards with safer materials. Both brands are testing their materials for contaminants while many others don’t seem to be. I especially love and appreciate that SISU is made in the USA.
