Numerical evaluation of sport mouthguard application

Abstract

Dental system pathology has a negative impact on the quality of life. Abrasion, chipping, and loss of teeth are the main consequences of non-carious damage to the dental system elements. These factors are often associated with different levels of physical and emotional stress. One of the ways to reduce the physical loads on the dental system elements is the use of protective mouthguards during a sports activity. Therefore, studying the deformation behavior of the prosthetic structure and elements of an individual’s dental system and analyzing contact parameters are necessary for examining the structure’s operation and optimization. In this study, stress distribution in the teeth was obtained during a contact interaction without considering prosthetic structures and a single-layer prosthetic structure with a biting force of 200 N. Stress intensity distribution (max σI) in hard tooth tissues was obtained. Results showed that sports mouthguards reduced the maximum stress intensity in hard tooth tissues by 1.5 times on the tooth surface and 3.7 times near the zone of occlusion.