In October 2016, Archer Dental was thrilled to positively impact the professional sports world in Toronto when we made a custom sports guard (an athletic mouth guard) for a charming Indy wrestler named The Lover (whose wrestling outfit is adorned with pink hearts and the slogan, ‘I put the harm in charm!‘)
The Lover arriving at Archer Dental
The Lover is on the roster as a regular contender at Hogtown Wrestling in Toronto and, in his own words, he’s in-it-to-win-it. He wants a championship title. Like everyone else on the roster, he wants to wear the Hogtown Wrestling Championship Belt and be called ‘The Champ’.
The Lover doesn’t mess around with match fixing politics, nor does he deliberately call out opponents or make any enemies in the ring; He’s too busy obsessing over his own good looks in any mirror or camera lens he can find.
The Lover is a very good looking muscular man and he knows it! He also has nice teeth that he wants to keep safe from flying elbows, head butts and face plants. This is a huge part of the reason why we were so happy to help him create a sports guard that would protect his teeth and keep his smile intact!
The Lover’s Sports Guard
Remember a sports guard only covers the top teeth, unlike a full mouth guard which is applied to the whole mouth. The purpose of the sports guard is to act as a shock absorber for the mouth, and to protect the front teeth from excessive force – like being thrown face first into a wrestling mat, or a ring rope post. The sports mouth guard also protects the athlete’s head and brain from concussion.
If the blow is delivered onto the mouth area, the device also keeps athletes’ lips and tongues safe from being cut on their upper teeth. This is safety apparel that every professional wrestler should employ and something we are offering the league at discount pricing – (if you’re an athlete reading this and want the same deal, just contact us and tell us your story).
Dr. Archer with the Lover during the fitting
When high performance athletes visit our dental office and order a custom sports guard rather than a full mouth guard, it’s because they want the liberty to speak or call out during the game without having to remove a physical speech impediment, and The Lover has a lot to say both inside and outside the wrestling ring.
Custom made sports guards can come in any colour – they are individually designed to fit the athlete’s mouth and so are very comfortable to wear.
To get the custom fit, The Lover visited our Rosedale dental office twice. The first encounter was only 15 minutes long as staff members took an impression of his upper teeth using a quick setting polymer gel. Then we sent him away and told him to come back a week later (he brought a full camera crew with him to document the occasion!)
The Lover with his completed Sports Guard
The thick plastic device was created out of a cement mould made from the hardened polymer gel impression we took of his teeth. He chose the colour pink to match the hearts on his black spandex suit.
It’s important to note that all sports mouth guards should be replaced after 18 months or two ‘seasons’ of play because they can wear down over time, making them less effective as a damage mitigating agent from harmful blows.
Replacement sports guards are especially important for adolescents because their mouths continue to grow as their teeth develop into adulthood. Many athletes who play different sports order new mouth guards from Archer Dental every six months as part of their routine dental check-up.