What Is a Custom Mouthguard and Who Needs One?
A custom mouthguard is a lab-made appliance moulded to the exact shape of your teeth, worn to absorb and spread out force before it reaches the tooth, jaw, or joint. At Brampton Smiles, we make two kinds: sportguards for athletes, and nightguards for patients who clench or grind while they sleep. Both start with the same digital scan at our Sunny Meadow office.
The difference between a custom guard and a drugstore boil-and-bite version is retention. A guard that shifts, loosens, or gets spat out during play is not protecting anything. A lab-made guard stays seated, which is why the Canadian Dental Association recommends professionally fitted protection for any sport where contact or a fall is possible.
Who Should Wear a Sportguard at Brampton Smiles?
Any child, teen, or adult playing a sport with contact, a hard ball or puck, a stick, or a real chance of falling should be in a sportguard. In Brampton that most often means hockey, basketball, soccer, football, rugby, lacrosse, martial arts, skateboarding, and mountain biking. Dr. Abbas fits guards for players from roughly age 6 through adult league play.
A few situations call for extra attention:
- Children in mixed dentition, where baby and permanent teeth are both present and the fit changes quickly
- Teens in clear aligner or braces treatment, who need a guard designed around the appliance
- Patients with veneers, crowns, or bonded front teeth, where a chip means redoing lab work
- Anyone who has already lost or fractured a front tooth once
A knocked-out permanent tooth is one of the few genuine dental emergencies. If it happens, keep the tooth moist, do not scrub the root, and call us right away. See emergency instructions.
How Does Brampton Smiles Make a Custom Mouthguard?
The process takes two short visits and no goopy impression trays. Most families book the scan on a weekday evening and pick the guard up at a following hygiene visit.
- Digital scan (about 20 minutes). An intraoral scanner captures both arches and the bite. Nothing is placed in the mouth beyond a small wand, which makes this far easier on younger children and on patients with a strong gag reflex.
- Lab fabrication (7 to 10 days). The guard is pressed or milled to the scan. For sportguards, thickness is chosen for the sport. Team colours are available.
- Fit and adjust (about 15 minutes). Dr. Abbas seats the guard, checks retention and the bite, trims any pressure points, and shows the patient how to insert, remove, and store it.
The guards that end up unused are almost always the ones that were never adjusted after delivery. If it feels bulky or makes a child gag, it stays in the bag. We would rather spend ten extra minutes trimming at the fit appointment than have a guard sit in a hockey bag all season.
How Is a Nightguard Different From a Sportguard?
A nightguard is thinner, harder, and built to manage sustained grinding force rather than a single impact. Sportguards are thicker and softer because their job is to absorb a sudden blow. The two are not interchangeable, and wearing a soft sportguard overnight can actually encourage more clenching in some patients.
Dr. Abbas usually raises the subject of a nightguard when an exam turns up flattened biting surfaces, small vertical cracks in enamel, notching at the gumline, jaw muscle tenderness, or morning headaches. Grinding is one of the most common reasons an otherwise healthy tooth fractures, and it is also the leading cause of early chipping on veneers and crowns.
Does Insurance Cover a Mouthguard at Brampton Smiles?
Many extended dental plans in Canada cover custom sportguards and nightguards, often under preventive or appliance benefits, and sometimes with an age limit or a frequency limit of one guard every few years. Brampton Smiles direct-bills Sun Life, Manulife, Canada Life, Green Shield, Desjardins, ClaimSecure, and others on the day of the appointment.
The Canada Dental Care Plan covers eligible patients for a range of services, and our front desk confirms what applies before the scan is booked. See CDCP details or review financing options.
How Long Does a Mouthguard Last and How Do I Care for It?
A custom sportguard for a growing child often lasts a single season, because jaws grow and new permanent teeth erupt. Adult sportguards and nightguards typically last 2 to 5 years depending on how heavily they are used. Dr. Abbas checks the fit of any existing guard at every recall visit, which is the easiest way to catch a guard that has quietly stopped fitting.
Care is simple. Rinse in cool water after each use, brush it gently with a soft brush and no toothpaste, air dry it fully, and keep it in a vented case away from heat. Hot water, a hot car, or a dishwasher will warp the guard permanently.
“Parents ask me every fall whether the drugstore guard is good enough. My honest answer is that it is better than nothing and worse than almost anything else. The whole point of a guard is that it stays put when the hit comes. If a child is quietly holding it in place with their teeth during a shift, it is not doing the job.”
Frequently Asked About Mouthguards at Brampton Smiles
Does Brampton Smiles make sportguards for adults or only for children?
Brampton Smiles makes custom sportguards for both children and adults in Brampton. Adult league hockey, basketball, and martial arts players make up a large share of the guards we deliver. The process is the same at any age: a digital scan, lab fabrication in 7 to 10 days, and a fit appointment with Dr. Azher Abbas, DMD.
Can my child wear a mouthguard from Brampton Smiles with braces or aligners?
Yes. A sportguard for a patient in braces is designed with extra room over the brackets so it seats without pressing on the appliance. Patients in clear aligners remove the trays for play and wear the sportguard instead. Dr. Abbas re-checks the fit as teeth move, because an orthodontic case changes the shape of the arch during treatment.
How quickly can I get a mouthguard from Brampton Smiles in Brampton?
Most custom mouthguards are ready 7 to 10 days after the scan. If a season starts sooner than that, call the office at (905) 793-8668 and we will tell you honestly whether the timing works. Scanning appointments are available until 8 PM on Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday, and on alternating Saturdays.
Will a nightguard from Brampton Smiles stop my jaw pain?
A nightguard reduces the load grinding places on the teeth and jaw joint, and many patients report less morning tightness and fewer headaches within a few weeks. It is a protective appliance rather than a cure for the grinding itself. Dr. Abbas looks at stress, sleep, airway, and bite together, because a guard alone does not address every cause.
My child lost their mouthguard. Does Brampton Smiles keep the scan on file?
Yes. Digital scans are stored, so a replacement guard for an adult usually does not require a new appointment as long as nothing has changed in the mouth. For a growing child, we prefer a fresh scan, because a guard built to a scan from a year earlier often no longer fits erupting permanent teeth.