Wearing a mouth or face guard while playing basketball can help to protect your eyes, nose, teeth, gums or other parts of your mouth or face from injury caused by accidental impact with another player’s elbow, hand or even head. Such accidental impacts can typically result in cuts to the face that may necessitate stitches. Using face & mouth guards for basketball games or practice is one way to cut down on the risk of facial injury.

Players who are healthy may not need to consider wearing face guards. However, players who suffer a cut that requires stitches can use a face guard to prevent accidents that can cause the cut to reopen. Similarly, if a player has suffered a broken nose, the best way to protect it from another accidental blow will be to wear a face guard for basketball activity.

On the other hand, most players should consider wearing mouth guards for basketball games even if they have not previously experienced oral or dental injuries.  The cost of dental treatment for a lost front tooth can range into the thousands of dollars. This makes dental injuries something that you will want to avoid if at all possible. Wearing a mouth guard will not interfere with your play but they will always be there to protect the teeth from accidental impact from another player. To maintain a high level of protection, we suggest that you replace your mouth guard every couple of months, or at least every season. For more information about the benefits of mouth guards in basketball, please read this post.

When considering different mouth guards for basketball play, you will notice that some mouth guards come with a strap. Basketball players do not need this strap. It is used by athletes who wear helmets – they use the strap to keep the mouth guard attached to the helmet even when they are not wearing it. As a basketball player, the strap is not necessary for you.