The effects of different custom-made mouthguard designs on retention, comfort and physiological parameters during exercise

Karaganeva, Raya Milcheva (2019) The effects of different custom-made mouthguard designs on retention, comfort and physiological parameters during exercise. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

There are great variations in design of customised mouthguards and a lack of research assessing possibilities to minimise commonly reported comfort-related issues. The aim of the present thesis was to investigate specific custom-made mouthguard designs and their effects on retention, physiological parameters and comfort within participants. A novel experimental procedure to examine retention of different mouthguards was proposed. Factors such as design, thickness and conditions of the oral environment were incorporated. It was found that using two EVA blanks to fabricate a mouthguard led to a greater retention. Thus, design plays an importance within retention and potential compliance. The second part of this thesis examined the influence of three mouthguards, which were found to be most retentive following the retention experimental study, on two groups of participants (rugby players and boxers). Whilst performing newly proposed sport-specific exercise protocols with and without mouthguards, their breath-by-breath gas exchange, heart rate and blood lactate were monitored. Wearing custom-made mouthguards did not have an impact on physiological parameters when compared to wearing no mouthguard. Additionally, participants were asked to assess the level of comfort via a questionnaire, which demonstrated the most favoured design in terms of participants’ perception. Finally, the present thesis evaluated the influence of the two most comfortable devices, whilst performing a boxing protocol under moderate altitude conditions, which has not been assessed previously in mouthguard research. The aim was to compare the effects of mouthguards on physiological parameters under normal (normoxic) and altitude (hypoxic) conditions. The findings of this research reported that custom-made mouthguards did not have any negative influence on the examined parameters, regardless of the testing conditions (e.g. controlled laboratory or simulated moderate altitude).