Facility really wants us to start enforcing mouthguards.

[Domvan66]

I am a new assistant coach for a middle school team, and new rules came down regarding mouthguards. Mouthguard use had gotten kind of lax, but now all players are required to have one connected to their cage, and they are required to have them in their mouths at anytime that they are on the ice. Including if they are just doing skating drills or standing waiting to go on a drill. The lead coach said that anyone without a mouthguard in while on the ice would get benched for five minutes then ten, he even benched one player who had popped it out to talk in line.

It all seems a bit.. excessive but I was wondering what others felt.

Click to read more...

 

[Yukon Joe]

It all seems a bit.. excessive but I was wondering what others felt.

I mean even in hockey-crazy-Alberta we don't have a rule like that, but it doesn't sound like a crazy idea to me.

 

[beakerboy]

I don't think it is unreasonable to require mouth guards, especially with all of the concussion awareness nowadays. Having draconian rules and enforcement in practice is probably the quickest way to get kids used to it. The only part of what you said that I'd argue against is that the mouthguards be attached to the cage since every dental molded mouthguard I've ever had does not allow that.

 

[Rumplesnipeskin]

You stop the kids from talking in line. You are stopping them from communicating on the bench, inherently, with the habits you’re creating (practice like you play). Let the kids breath, and talk. Use mouthguards intelligently, the kids have cages on still, though, at this age. Silly rule when enforced that strictly.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

I’m curious how the usage of them and the rules evolves. I’m wondering if the coach is being super strict now just to get the kids used to never “forgetting” to put them in, which is what would inevitably happen if you just make a simple announcement that they are now required during play.

 

[tarheelhockey]

I think it makes some sense within that age group. A lot of adults (including me) don't wear mouthguards or neck guards because they just don't feel natural at all. If the medical consensus is that mouthguards are a good thing, you want kids to get used to them early so they won't reject them at a later age.

To contextualize the importance of mouthguards relative to concussions:

Mouthguards may reduce concussion risk in youth ice hockey players

"Concussions are the most common injury in youth ice hockey... 'When we looked at both off-the-shelf and custom-fit mouthguards together in the analysis, we found their use lowered the odds of concussion by 64%'"

 

[Porter Stoutheart]

If it's the rule, just do it. What is the alternative? Rebel? Snicker subversively and allow the kids to get away with not wearing one, against the rules? Go against your head coach's team policies? Is there a truly constructive alternative? Sounds like you should just take the good they provide alongside any adjustment period and discomfort added, which isn't unlike a lot of other types of protective measures. You get on with it and keep enjoying the game.

 

[The Crypto Guy]

It's the damn rule. What's the issue?

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Mouthguards are incredibly helpful for reducing injury. It might seem like an uphill battle to enforce (it is), but it's very important regardless.

I'm coaching 8U American Football right now and our league mandates players must be wearing at all times while on the playing field. I believe teams get 1 verbal warning and then are given a 15 yard pre-snap penalty every time an official calls illegal equipment. Most officials are lenient with it, but the league officials are not playing around when it comes to mouthguards.

We make them wear them all the time anyway, especially during practice. If nothing else, it keeps them from talking as much and conditions them to be comfortable wearing and breathing with their mouthguards.

 

[DougKnowsBest]

oh for the kids. Absolutely.

Adult league, no way

 

[Sky04]

I don't know why anyone plays without a mouth guard, is an extremely minor inconvenience worth thousands of dollars in dental work over someone else's carelessness?

 

[Smirnov2Chistov]

I had this rule enforced even until high school. We were required to have the mouth guard attached to the cage.

 

[HansonBro]

I remember back on the early 90's going to I think Buffalo, for a tournament. Canadian btw...

They had the mouthguard rule in place then, but neck guards weren't required. So we all bought mouthguards and ditched the neck guard. I think just about every kid had bleeding gums by the end. It was an awful experience. I don't know if it was the technology at the time or just poor knowledge of fitting the guard. But it was terrible

 

[PK Cronin]

I think it makes some sense within that age group. A lot of adults (including me) don't wear mouthguards or neck guards because they just don't feel natural at all. If the medical consensus is that mouthguards are a good thing, you want kids to get used to them early so they won't reject them at a later age.

To contextualize the importance of mouthguards relative to concussions:

Mouthguards may reduce concussion risk in youth ice hockey players

"Concussions are the most common injury in youth ice hockey... 'When we looked at both off-the-shelf and custom-fit mouthguards together in the analysis, we found their use lowered the odds of concussion by 64%'"

Interesting story, I have a close family member who is a medical professional (they were a professor once their career was done). I once mentioned that mouth guards prevented concussions and they were perplexed because they had never heard that before. After repeating myself again, since that's what I had always been told growing up, she looked up a bunch of medical studies and none of them showed any real connection to a decrease in concussions and mouth guards. I haven't gone back and looked at anything since then, and it was maybe a decade ago, but it seemed to me that most of it was just wishful thinking. I was shocked since it's something that was so often repeated in the hockey/sports world.

 

[tarheelhockey]

Interesting story, I have a close family member who is a medical professional (they were a professor once their career was done). I once mentioned that mouth guards prevented concussions and they were perplexed because they had never heard that before. After repeating myself again, since that's what I had always been told growing up, she looked up a bunch of medical studies and none of them showed any real connection to a decrease in concussions and mouth guards. I haven't gone back and looked at anything since then, and it was maybe a decade ago, but it seemed to me that most of it was just wishful thinking. I was shocked since it's something that was so often repeated in the hockey/sports world.

I remember hearing something similar about a decade ago, that they didn't really make a difference. Even in the title of the article ("may") and buried in the details of the report, there's still not complete clarity on the matter.

In the face of uncertainty, I'd be inclined to believe that they really do make a difference, if only because the mechanism is intuitively easy to identify. At some point in our lives, we've all had a in impact that caused us to actually feel our teeth clack together... preventing that from happening can't help but redirect some of the force out of our cranium.

 

[PK Cronin]

I remember hearing something similar about a decade ago, that they didn't really make a difference. Even in the title of the article ("may") and buried in the details of the report, there's still not complete clarity on the matter.

In the face of uncertainty, I'd be inclined to believe that they really do make a difference, if only because the mechanism is intuitively easy to identify. At some point in our lives, we've all had a in impact that caused us to actually feel our teeth clack together... preventing that from happening can't help but redirect some of the force out of our cranium.

I'm no expert but I don't think it'd make any difference because the brain sits in a separate area. It's like if I put a watermelon in a water balloon with some liquid surrounded by a bowling ball but then attached a set of teeth outside the bowling ball, any force that causes the brain to jerk around inside the water balloon isn't going to be changed by anything happening to the teeth. The brain moves around inside the cranium independently. Again, definitely not an expert on the matter and I'm with you about just being cautious, and if nothing else it'll help prevent injuries to teeth or kids biting their tongue.

I don't know how they could do any conclusive testing on this topic though, maybe they'd have to use intact cadavers?

 

[tarheelhockey]

I don't know how they could do any conclusive testing on this topic though, maybe they'd have to use intact cadavers?

Perhaps a modified version of a ballistic dummy, with sensors embedded in the cranium to measure the levels of shock that reach the brain after various forms of impact.

Of course this wouldn't give you the same kind of robust information you'd get from testing on living tissue, but it would give you enough data to make very strong inferences.

In particular, I think there's a question of sub-concussive impacts accumulating over time. That was the big breakthrough in understanding CTE, understanding that it's not about the effects of a knockout punch but rather the effects of thousands of little jabs. In a hockey context, how many impacts create sub-concussive blows? I'm really not sure. It's easy to gloss over a lot of random physicality, like accidental collisions or getting high-sticked in the helmet, as not being meaningful because it doesn't cause pain or injury. But I'm not sure if that's true on a cellular level.