No Improvement in Sprint Performance With a Neuromuscular Fitted Dental Splint

Abstract

Irrespective of habitual verticalization or myocentric positioning, dental splints have no effects on any aspect of WAnT performance. Results are comparable to those of test-retest experiments.

Acute Effects of Wearing Bite-Aligning Mouthguards on Muscular Strength, Power, Agility and Quickness in a Trained Population: A Systematic Review

“…All the studies included a within-subject, cross-over design and were specifically developed with athletes who were involved in different sports and standards. Sixteen of these studies [ 2 , 12 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 24 , 29 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 ] were performed with recreational athletes, nine [ 13 , 19 , 22 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 30 , 31 , 43 ] of them were performed with high-standard athletes and two [ 28 , 32 ] combined both groups. Twenty articles recruited only male participants, [ 2 , 12 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 32 , 33 , 43 ], one recruited only female participants [ 36 ] and six recruited participants of both sexes [ 13 , 14 ,…”

“…The type of mouthguard also varied among studies. The custom-made type (CMM) was the most used in eighteen studies [ 14 , 15 , 16 , 18 , 19 , 22 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 43 ], whereas the self-adapted (SAM) type was used in seventeen [ 2 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 17 , 20 , 21 , 23 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 35 , 36 ], and the standard (STNDM) in two studies [ 19 , 36 ] ( Figure 2 ). Three of these articles [ 19 , 22 , 43 ] used placebo (PLA) mouthguards to blind the information of the mouthguard type.…”

“…Three of these articles [ 19 , 22 , 43 ] used placebo (PLA) mouthguards to blind the information of the mouthguard type. Additionally, a comparison between the use of an oral device (MG) with a nonuse condition (NoMG) was reported in ten studies [ 2 , 12 , 13 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 31 , 32 , 34 ], while seventeen [ 10 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 33 , 35 , 43 ] compared more than one type of mouthguard. Overall, from the twenty-seven reviewed studies, sixteen [ 2 , 13 , 14 , 17 , 18 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 34 , 35 ] reported positive effects in some of the variables assessed, whereas two [ 29 , 35 ] reported negative effects.…”

“…The relationship between the use of mouthguards and dynamic strength has been examined in twenty articles [ 2 , 12 , 15 , 16 , 18 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ]. On the one hand, upper body muscle strength was evaluated in six of these studies [ 12 , 15 , 22 , 25 , 27 , 35 ], essentially focusing on bench press and bench throw actions.…”

“…Originally, sports mouthguards were designed to minimize the incidence of orofacial injuries through the absorption of the energy during head and mouth trauma [ 1 ]. Besides this preventive role, several studies have investigated the effects of wearing these oral devices on metabolic [ 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ], ventilatory [ 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 ], functional [ 10 , 11 ] or neuromuscular performance parameters, and this, concretely, has focused on strength [ 2 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 ], power [ 12 , 15 , 16 , 18 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 ], quickness [ 26 , 34 , 35 ] or agility [ 15 , 25 , 36 ]. The potential neuromuscular effects might be attributed to the postural repositionin...…”