Yes, you can wear a mouthguard with braces. The American Association of Orthodontists not only says it’s possible but strongly recommends it for anyone playing sports or doing physical activities during orthodontic treatment. The key is choosing the right type of mouthguard, since a standard one can damage brackets, lock onto wires, or interfere with how your teeth are moving.
Why Protection Matters More With Braces
Braces add metal hardware to your teeth, which creates new risks during contact or collision. Brackets can cut into your lips and cheeks on impact, wires can bend or snap, and brackets themselves can pop off. A cross-sectional study of orthodontic patients who played contact sports found that about 44% had experienced trauma to their teeth or mouth. That’s roughly double the injury rate seen in athletes without braces. A separate meta-analysis found that skipping a mouthguard during sports approximately doubles the odds of an orofacial injury regardless of whether you have braces, so combining braces with no protection stacks the risk considerably.
The most common injuries include soft tissue cuts from brackets pressing into the inside of your mouth, loosened or debonded brackets, bent archwires, and damage to the teeth and surrounding bone. A mouthguard acts as a buffer between the brackets and your soft tissue while also absorbing and distributing force from a blow to the face.
Why Standard Mouthguards Don’t Work
A regular boil-and-bite mouthguard from a sporting goods store is designed to fit snugly against bare teeth. With braces, that tight fit creates problems. The heated material can wrap around brackets and wires, essentially locking onto the appliance. Some orthodontists have reported cases where a standard boil-and-bite guard bonded so tightly to the braces that it had to be cut off in the office.
Even if it doesn’t lock on, a standard guard lacks the extra space needed to sit comfortably over brackets. It can press against wires, put unwanted pressure on teeth, and potentially slow or interfere with planned tooth movement. Six orthodontists in one survey specifically said they believed a poorly fitting mouthguard could inhibit the progress of treatment.
Types of Mouthguards That Work With Braces
Orthodontic Boil-and-Bite Guards
Several brands make mouthguards specifically designed for braces. These typically have extra room built into the design to accommodate brackets and wires. One widely available option uses medical-grade silicone with an “ortho-channel,” a groove that runs along the bracket line so the guard flexes around the hardware without gripping it. Because it’s silicone, it adapts to the teeth and braces without needing to be boiled first.
Other braces-specific guards use features like a raised bumper over the bracket area and shortened fins (slim rib-like structures) that improve retention without clamping down on the appliance. These guards generally cost between $15 and $35 and are available at sporting goods stores, pharmacies, and online. The tradeoff is that fit and protection vary quite a bit between brands. In lab testing, some orthodontic boil-and-bite guards had noticeably poor retention compared to others with more advanced design features.
Custom-Made Guards
A custom mouthguard is made by your orthodontist or dentist from an impression of your teeth. The guard is pressure-formed over a model of your dental arch, including your brackets and wires, using layers of a flexible polymer material. Custom guards offer the best fit and the most consistent shock absorption.
The catch with braces is that your teeth are actively moving. A custom guard made in January may not fit well by March. When the fit deteriorates, you need a new impression and a new guard. At $100 to $700 per custom mouthguard, that cost adds up quickly over a treatment that might last 18 months to two years. For this reason, many orthodontists steer braces patients toward high-quality orthodontic boil-and-bite guards that can be remolded as teeth shift, reserving custom guards for patients with specific needs or very high-contact sports.
How to Fit an Orthodontic Mouthguard
If you’re using a braces-specific boil-and-bite guard, start by confirming the packaging says it’s designed for orthodontic appliances. A standard boil-and-bite without the extra bracket clearance is not a substitute.
Some orthodontic guards, particularly silicone models, don’t require heating at all. You simply place them over your teeth and they conform to the shape of your brackets. For guards that do require heating, follow the temperature and timing on the package carefully. Overheating softens the material too much and increases the risk of it flowing into gaps around your brackets.
As your orthodontic treatment progresses and your teeth shift, the guard will start to feel loose or uncomfortable. When that happens, you can reheat and remold it according to the manufacturer’s instructions. This is one of the biggest advantages over custom guards during active treatment: you can adjust the fit at home without a new office visit. Check the fit every few weeks, especially after an adjustment appointment when your orthodontist tightens or changes your wires.
Upper Arch, Lower Arch, or Both
Most mouthguards cover only the upper teeth, which is standard for sports protection because the upper jaw is more exposed to direct impact. With braces on both arches, you have brackets and wires on the lower teeth too, and those can cut into the inside of your lower lip during a hit. If you wear braces on both arches and play a high-contact sport like basketball, football, hockey, or martial arts, ask your orthodontist whether a dual-arch guard makes sense. For lower-contact activities, an upper guard alone is usually sufficient.
Keeping Your Mouthguard Clean
A mouthguard that sits against braces picks up bacteria readily. The brackets and wires create extra surfaces where microbes accumulate, and transferring those to a warm, damp guard between uses is a recipe for contamination. Research on mouthguard hygiene has found that soaking the guard in a cleaning tablet solution at around 40°C (104°F) for 10 minutes is more effective at reducing oral bacteria than ultrasonic washing. A quick spray of 0.12% chlorhexidine rinse has also been shown to significantly cut bacterial levels on used guards.
Many over-the-counter denture or retainer cleaning tablets work well for this purpose. Avoid soaking your guard in bleach-based solutions, as sodium hypochlorite can degrade the material and trigger allergic reactions in some people. After cleaning, let the guard air dry completely in a ventilated case before storing it. Rinse it with cool water before each use, and inspect it regularly for tears, thinning, or permanent deformation, any of which mean it’s time for a replacement.