Teeth Protection

[cathal]

There seems to be a lot out there...what do you use?

[June1]

Nothing yet, but whatever I'll get when I'm an orange belt will have to protect my braces, should I not get them removed tomorrow.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

What do I use? My hands for blocking, and my head for dodging. Really, I don't even wear a groin cup (he says in his high, squeaky voice)

[June1]

He he. You do have a point there. One should rely more on technique than on a hunk of plastic/rubber/whatever for protection.

[cathal]

Ha ha ha! I'll just dodge from now on.

[Shorinryu Sensei]

I've seen to many people rely on groin, mouth and other forms of protection and because of that protection, they don't use their training to protect themselves as well as they should. I leave it up to my students to use what protection they do, or don't want to use. Under 18 are required to wear groing protection...period.

Myself, I don't use anything other than what I was born with, and what training and skills I possess.

And yes, I've been nailed more than once.

[cathal]

It does suck. The other members of my dojo use the same inserts as boxers use.

[SevenStar]

I'd recommend the wipss low pro. shock doctor makes some good ones as well. What level of contact are you doing? if you are doing light contact, I wouldn't really worry about it - I never wore one in my point sparring days, and don't wear them currently in bjj, although many others do. However, I ALWAYS wear them in muay thai. with the high level of contact, it's necessary. A good mouth guard not only protects the teeth but helps prevent knockouts.

[SevenStar]

He he. You do have a point there. One should rely more on technique than on a hunk of plastic/rubber/whatever for protection.

Ideally, yes, but when you spar full contact on a regular basis, you WILL get hit. it's inevitable. I used to have the same "wear no protection" philosophy, until I ate a right cross right in the mouth. The tooth died, and I have to have the tooth cut out, root calaned and had a crown put on it. It's porcelain, so you can't look at me and tell that it's not real, but I know, and it's my constant reminder that mouthguards should be used.

[aefibird]

I'm not a big fan of wearing padding and protection when fighting, but I do tend to wear a gum shield.

What can I say, I like my teeth.

Nah, I wear a gumshield as I have quite weak teeth and I prefer to protect them 'just in case'.

After an incident when I was 17 which involved a friends pony, said ponys hooves and my face I've always been a little jumpy about being kicked (or punched) in the teeth.

I had my mouthguard made for me by my dentist and it didn't cost much more than a Shock Doctor or a Brain Pad mouthguard.