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Defender Mouthguards: The Process

For those who aren’t familiar, Defender Mouthguards is a company that offers custom fit high performance mouthguards. The mouthguards are created from a direct impression of the athlete’s mouth – just like you would get at the dentist’s office, but for a fraction of the cost.

I’d been wanting to try out one of these mouthguards for quite some time, so I was thrilled when I received a complementary molding kit in the mail a couple of months ago.  Due to my crazy schedule at the time, I wasn’t able to open it and go through the molding process until just a few weeks ago. When I did, I thought it’d be interesting to take some pictures of the process and share them with you guys.

When you order a Defender Mouthguard, here’s how it all works…

They include a 5 minute instructional video for you to watch before going through the process. After watching this, a process that seems a little overwhelming at first becomes incredibly simple.

Defender Mouthguards Process
The 5-minute instruction video tells you everything you need to know, making the process easy.

You also get some in-depth printed material, which has all the details, safety information, fine print etc.

Defender Mouthguards Process
Step-by-step instructions on high-gloss paper makes for a good customer experience.

To start out, you boil water just like you would to mold a normal mouthguard. However, in this case you’re not actually molding a mouthguard. You’re forming the tray to properly fit your mouth.

Defender Mouthguards Process
See that bowl? Best cereal bowl I’ve ever had.

As soon as you’ve molded the tray, you need to quickly place it under cold water to harden it and make sure it doesn’t lose its new form.

Defender Mouthguards Process
Make sure the water is cold!

After that, it’s time to break out the play-doh!

Defender Mouthguards Process
This is where it gets interesting.

The molding clay feels just like silly putty. The difference is that when you mix these two colors together, a hardening effect takes place. Once mixed, you’ve got about 5 minutes to follow through with the rest of the steps.

Just like Flubber!

After mixing, you place the clay into the tray you formed to your mouth in the earlier steps.

The goo is ready.

Next, you put the entire tray into your mouth and push it up against your top teeth so they sink into the clay. Then, bite down. It’ll feel like your teeth just got stuck in cement. Good luck getting them out!

Defender Mouthguards Process
Again, make sure that water is chilly!

At the end of the process, you’ve got something like this (minus a couple of potential cavities):

Defender Mouthguards Process
The finished product. Well, not quite!

The final step is to ship the molded impression back to Defender. They make this an easy thing to do by providing you with all the packing materials and postage.

Defender Mouthguards Process
Time to ship it out. And then? We wait.

And then? We wait.

I’ll have an update as soon as I receive the finished product, a Lax All Stars mouthguard, in mail. Until then, below are a few that were made for college teams. Kind of cool to imagine a whole team having uniform mouth gear.

SJU Defender Mouthguards
St. John’s Red Storm
UNC Defender Mouthguards
North Carolina Tar Heels