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Speaking from a dentist's (and former fighter) point of view.....
Custom made mouthguards beat out almost any other boil n' bite mouthguard that's out there.
Problem is, the most common way for a custom made mouthguard are vacuum pressed or laminate. Either way - provides for an excellent fit, but these methods are only for upper tooth coverage. Being in a combat sport, though, you need to bite down (to prevent getting hit in the jaw in a fashion to get KO'd). So it helps to have some breathing room as your jaw clenches.
Now, there's not too many places that you can send the molds in to get a double ended mouthguard that's fabricated with the breathing space - but what makes it difficult is to get the bite right (i.e. positioning of the lower jaw in a bit relationship that makes it comfortable and effective to clench the jaw). I'm still trying to find a lab that makes an appropriate mouthguard that way.
There are a few boil and bite ones that I do like on the market - Ringside's Brainpad (upper and lower) , as well as the Shockdoctor type (Upper only) with a posterior bite pad that allows you to bite and breathe and take a shot to the head.
Has anyone tried these mouthguards or had an upper/lower combo custom made?
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