Can You Remould a Mouthguard?

If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to chip, crack, break, or damage a tooth, or worse still, to have a tooth or teeth knocked out, you’ll know just how awful it can be. Not only is it painful, it can also be unsightly, it feels unusual, and it can lead to further dental complications if you’re not careful.

While our teeth can be damaged in a variety of different ways, for numerous reasons, some of the most common tooth-related injuries happen during sports. To help protect the teeth and prevent this, mouthguards can be worn. There are, however, other causes of damage to the teeth, including bruxism, which is basically severe grinding of the teeth when a person sleeps. To deal with this, nightguards can be worn.

Mouthguards protect the teeth from damage during sports, whereas night guards help to protect the teeth from bruxism when a person sleeps. Overtime, though, mouthguards and nightguards can become misshapen and worn out, but can they be fixed, and if so, can you remould a mouthguard?

Can you remould a mouthguard?

A good quality mouthguard is designed to fit snugly over the teeth and gums, and they can be customised and built specifically to be unique to the wearer’s mouth. Over time however, the mouthguard can become misshapen and may warp, stretch, or shrink, resulting in it coming away from the teeth, feeling uncomfortable, and not doing its job.

When this occurs, you may think it’s time to invest in another, but not so fast. If you know what you’re doing, you can in fact remould a mouthguard and have it back at its best. We’ll look at how this is done a little later on.

Can you remould a nightguard?

A night guard is very similar to a mouthguard, except for the fact that it helps to protect the teeth at night when a person sleeps.

A broken night guard will not do its job correctly and could result in all manner of oral and dental complications. The good news is that a nightguard can be remoulded, or if it is damaged, you can speak to your dentist who can then advise whether or not a repair can be made.

How to remould a mouthguard

Okay, so, we’ve established that a mouthguard can indeed be remoulded, but now the tough work begins because we need to look at how this is achieved.

What you will need:

• Water
• Saucepan
• Slotted spoon
• Mirror

What to do:

1. Begin by taking a saucepan and filling it with enough water to comfortably submerge the mouthguard that you are looking to remould (usually 4 – 6 inches of water).
2. Next, place the pan onto the heat and bring the water up to a rolling boil.
3. Carefully remove the pan from the heat and leave to stand for around 30 seconds before placing your mouthguard into the hot water, making sure it is fully submerged.
4. Keep the mouthguard in the water for one minute, making sure not to leave it any longer. If your mouthguard is strapped, be sure to attach a simple tether to it before it goes into the water.
5. Now, using a slotted spoon or the tether we just spoke about, carefully extract the mouthguard from the hot water and place it under cold running water for a second or 2, just to bring the temperature down slightly.
6. Now, making sure the mouthguard is still warm so that it can be reshaped and remoulded, place it into your mouth and over your teeth. You can moisten your lips before if you’re worried it may be too hot.
7. Now, while watching in a mirror, carefully line up the mouthguard with the centreline of your upper teeth. Now, firmly place it onto and around your upper teeth so that it shapes to them and moulds itself around them. Begin with the molars first, followed by the front teeth.
8. Now, bring your lower jaw forwards and up towards the base of the mouthguard, making sure to keep the teeth aligned with the lower channel. Next, bite down hard onto the mouthguard and suck in as strongly as you can. Press the edges of the mouthguard against the teeth and the gumline through the lips and the cheeks for around 20 – 30 seconds.
9. Once you’re happy with the feel of the mouthguard, remove it and place it into cold water for 30 seconds to firm up. Put the mouthguard back into your mouth and test how it feels. If you’re unhappy, repeat the process above. If you’re happy, you’re all set.

How many times can you remould a mouthguard?

Now that we’ve looked at how to remould a mouthguard, you’ll probably be wondering how often this process can be repeated.

Obviously a mouthguard will not last forever and will need replacing at some point, but generally speaking, you can remould a mouthguard up to 20 times before it needs replacing.

Order your custom Dental Armour mouthguard

At Dental Armour, we specialise in mouthguards, nightguards, retainers, and much more besides, so you can rest assured that you’re in the safest hands possible.

If you’re in need of a mouthguard, or if you just want to learn more, go ahead and give us a call today on (08) 9349 3006 and book an appointment with us.