Does using a mouthguard make you a wimp?

Mouth guards are cheaper than dental work. And might keep you rolling on days you would otherwise miss out. I always roll with one. Don't really care if someone thinks I'm a wimp for doing. Ego at the door and all that...

I train at a serious competitive gym, guys there have won competitions like Worlds and ADCC. Pretty much everyone wears a mouth guard. I don't see why someone would make fun of protecting your teeth.

It's makes you smart...not a wimp. I don't wear one because I've never took the time to actually get used to one but many people do wear one. My excuse of not wearing is not for toughness, its basically laziness and not wanting to deal with getting used to breathing with one in.

However, it would be smart decision for my teeth being that I've chipped my teeth twice.

Ridiculous that someone wearing a mouthguard gets called a wimp - especially by the coach not sure what the vibe / culture is like at your gym but at our the coach wears one and encourages people to wear one too. I personally will always wear one no matter what belt colour I am mouthguard = harder rolls

Pretty much everyone in my gym wears a mouth guard. It seems so silly to me that your coach would think it makes someone wimpy to wear one that it almost makes me wonder if he was just making a joke.

My experience is that most people think it is a good idea to wear a mouth guard, but some don’t wear one cuz they’re lazy or don’t like how it feels.

Years ago, when I was a blue belt, I wore a mouth guard in a competition. My coach saw me struggle a bit with cardio in my last match and suggested that I should not wear them to compete anymore. I gave it a try. My second match in the next tournament, I took a knee to the jaw and bit through my tongue. Ever try to wrestle with blood running down your throat? Yeah, not fun. I have worn one for competition ever since.

In class, it is hit or miss. I wear one for hard competition prep rolls, but may or may not otherwise. More because I would rather not wear on while talking/coaching than anything else.

So, no, wearing a mouthguard does not make you a wimp. It makes you smart.

I rather be a wimp than have a chipped teeth. Dental work is much expensive.

Having said that, the normal boil and bite mouth guard is very uncomfortable. I use SISU mouth guard which still lets me speak and breath properly and does not feel thick in your fore lips.

Safety first. yours and whoever you train with. Who's gonna roll with you if they're all out of commission??

Coach sounds like he's still in high school...nothing weak about wanting to avoid unnecessary dental work.

I don't like wearing one but I try to make myself do it.

I wear a SISU Aero mouthguard, which is super thin. I basically forget I have it on. You can even talk normally with it.
It's pretty much all you need. I've taken a few spazzy knees to it and it held just fine.

Even my coach (a Black Belt of Carlson Gracie > Toco lineage) who never wore one all of his life because they felt so bulky started wearing a SISU one.

Now, I'm a wimpy guard puller who does not compete. So that's that.

And Keenan wears a pink mouthguard, so...

CorvoAttano, post: 60409, member: 33479

I've been training for about a combined 6 months and competed once. I know enough time to realize just how little I know, and recognize the difference in skill between the belt colors. Not many people around me use mouth guards when training. Once I heard the coach make a comment to a blue belt about a newer student using a mouth guard. I don't remember the exact words, but the message was that the guy was wimpy for using a mouth guard, because apparently you are tougher for not using one. My coach seems like a kind and respectful guy, but I have no idea if it is commonplace to make fun of mouthguards.

What do you think about this? I'm interested to hear if people across different skill levels, regions, or training backgrounds feel that mouthguards are for wimps, or make you less respectable, tough, etc. Are mouthguards in BJJ even necessary? I imagine around blue belt it starts preventing some injuries when rolling.

I cracked my tooth by not wearing a mouthguard. There's no reason not to wear one.

Personal choice at the end of the day, but taking sensible safety precautions never makes you a wimp.

I would agree with the previous comments that its a good call to roll with a mouthguard especially now that they have become so much lighter and better fitting than ones from the past. To answer your last question I would say the more advanced you and your training partner are the less likely inadvertent strikes tend to occur.

My teeth are uneven and just a soft elbow to my lip will make it bleed. Mouthguard is useful. Easier to wash my gi when it has less red colour on it.

I got Invisalign, which actually can act as very form fitting and invisible mouth guards.

Really weird thing to say by your coach

I wear one all the time. The few times I have forgotten I realized that I bite down hard for some reason. I have two good mouth guards from when I competed in mma. One is thicker but it fits so good that I have to pry the damn thing out. I can talk just fine with them in so they don't bother me. Go to your dentist and have a mold made. Then get a good one. It's well worth it.

I wear one always, I don't think it makes anyone a wimp. Dental work is very expensive and cuts inside your mouth suck.

I got a custom one from Gladiator on account of having a few crowns up front. I really would rather not have that dental bill so it's just the smart play for me to not be worried every time I'm rolling hard

I typically have a couple different styles of mouth guards or multiples of one style, so I never to be without one : Sisu, generic boil and bite, and Shock Doctor. It wasn't until purple belt I decided to not wear one and I took a knee to the jaw while in bottom half guard. A white belt's knee came flying into my face. I didn't loose a tooth, but I did get a number of teeth chipped badly and cut my tongue deep.

Does anyone else find a mouth guard helps with the pressure from front headlock chokes?

Personally I am wearing a SISU Max mouth guard because in addition to BJJ, I cross train in boxing and muay thai as well. You might need to mould it it a few times to get a good fit, but the time spent will be worth it. Most people at my gym don't wear mouth guard when rolling, but in my opinion it's best to take precautions against potential injuries.

You should get a pink mouthguard like Keenan lol

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I am always using one and I couldn't care less what someone else thinks about it. Dentists are well expensive.

Just gonna weigh in here - I’ve gotten my ass kicked by a lot of guys with mouth guards so ... no, that alone doesn’t make you a wimp. I’m sure there are other things. ;-)

Everyone compliments me with my purple SISU mouth guard. Lol

Get a hard plastic SISU mouthguard they protect your teeth well enough for grappling and you don't have to take it out to speak or drink...

I clench my teeth hard at times so a mouth guard helps with that. I also have two implants that cost me a lot of money I really didn't have so I am not going to lose that investment over not wanting to use a cheap boil and bite.

plus if you defend a RNC by tucking your chin some guys will crush your jaw and grind your teeth - mouth guards are heaven sent in that situation... then again don't give up your back.

baconlt, post: 60558, member: 33621

plus if you defend a RNC by tucking your chin some guys will crush your jaw and grind your teeth - mouth guards are heaven sent in that situation... then again don't give up your back.

Anyone who has used SISU Max guard supposedly designed for MMA being thicker than the Aero? How was it? I am good with SISU Aero for BJJ but not really confident if there is striking involved.

does not take much effort to chip your teeth, absolutely worth wearing

NO. haha

but I have chewed gum during training for the past 3 years, One thick piece. It makes your breath nice so your training partners do not hate you, and you can breathe better with it than a mouth guard. JUST DO NOT CHOKE ON IT

_rollingcole, post: 61068, member: 31168

NO. haha

but I have chewed gum during training for the past 3 years, One thick piece. It makes your breath nice so your training partners do not hate you, and you can breathe better with it than a mouth guard. JUST DO NOT CHOKE ON IT

_rollingcole, post: 61068, member: 31168

NO. haha

but I have chewed gum during training for the past 3 years, One thick piece. It makes your breath nice so your training partners do not hate you, and you can breathe better with it than a mouth guard. JUST DO NOT CHOKE ON IT

Maann, two things I do before stepping on mats. Alcohol on my feet and mouthwash.

Benny_the_jet, post: 61087, member: 22463

yeah... I'm not a fan at all of gum on the mats. I'd be constantly worrying about swallowing it. Also I don't trust people not to leave chewed bits on the ground. Mints before class is my go to

Benny_the_jet, post: 61087, member: 22463

yeah... I'm not a fan at all of gum on the mats. I'd be constantly worrying about swallowing it. Also I don't trust people not to leave chewed bits on the ground. Mints before class is my go to

Lots of people wear a mouth guard. I wore one for a while, but I just kept forgetting to bring it so I stopped. Don't feel bad about wearing one.

As most sensible commentators have noted, it does not make you a wimp. Here are my observations / recommendations on mouth guard:

A fitted mouth-guard that you get from the dentist will be expensive but in my opinion it is well worth it. Two reasons:
1) Getting heel-kicked in the tooth will chip it or even break it off. Fixing this is far more expensive than a mouth guard, if it is even fixable at all. The heel kick can arise in many situations -- someone going for a triangle, someone going for an armbar, someone *defending* an armbar (I accidentally chipped someone's tooth this way when I was a spazzy white belt, I feel bad about it to this day), etc.
2) Much more commonly, any strike to your mouth will result in a cut if you don't wear a mouth guard. I don't know about you, but I almost always get a mouth ulcer from this, and it can takes up to 1-2 weeks to completely heal. There are usually at least 3-4 days of acute inflammation that make eating and drinking certain foods (orange juice, pasta with tomato sauce, etc) very painful.

I do not recommend a store-bought mouth guard. For example, a Shock Doctor (which is fitted) that you get from the sports goods store basically just connects your teeth to other teeth for support. It does not fit over your gums. However, a dentist-made mouth guard made for athletes should fit snugly over your gums. This not only connects your teeth not only to each other, but reinforces their connections to the alveolar processes (ie, the bones that hold your tooth sockets).

Personally, I have never had any breathing problems with my mouth guards. A well-made mouth guard should force your mouth to be constantly open, and have an "arch" shape below the front incisors to allow lots of air flow.

Finally, this is not really relevant to BJJ but it's a cool fact -- in high level Greco-Roman wrestling, it is not uncommon for wrestlers to accidentally bite their own tongues off. The greatest GR wrestler of all time, Aleksandr Karelin, bit his own tongue and it affects his pronunciation for life. Just my speculation, but I think a mouth guard might help reduce the chance of this happening, or at least reduce the severity of the bite.

I'd rather be a wimp than pay the dental bill

I have a custom one from my dentist that was very expensive when compared to the boil and bite type or even not having one at all but a fraction of the cost of replacing/repairing teeth from an errant knee. I can talk and breathe normally with it in so it's a no-brainer to wear every time I roll however I rarely wear it in regular training rolls. Sometimes I forget, and sometimes I'm just too damn lazy to walk over to my bag to retrieve it and put it on.

I will wear it 100% of the time in competition and I will wear it every time there are either brand new people, well-known spazzy people, or hard competitive rolls on the mat. If I know and frequently roll with all people rolling then I don't tend to bother, though I probably should!

Like other people were saying, the Sisu Aero is the way to go. Its the only mouth guard Ive ever tried that I can tolerate for more than a few seconds without wanting to gag. Can talk (mostly)normally and drink water with it just fine. Worth the $20. I'll wear it when lifting or bjj to also help prevent me grinding my teeth

I started wearing a mouth guard a few years ago after i got kneed in the jaw several times 1 day. I was lucky I wasnt injured, but I decided to wear a mouth guard after that. I tried the kind you dip in boiling water, but I could never get them the right fit. I have a weird shape upper set of teeth...
Fortunately, a good friend of mine is a dentist and he hooked me up with a custom fit. Its great - doesnt hurt, I can breath/talk just fine, and I can wear it the entire class without issue. Bought my buddy a gi for his troubles.

Using a mouth guard guard helps you keep your teeth, I prefer that to being manly . I also wear head gear so my ears stay looking normal.

Your call, but I've caught a few stray elbows and kneed myself in the face plenty of times to appreciate the value of a mouthguard. You don't want to wish you had one for that one time when you didn't.

It protects your training partners too. I've seen a nasty gash when a head hit a guy's open mouth, wearing no gumshield.

My dentist was constantly on me to wear a mouthguard, but I committed to wearing it after I chipped a tooth (doing something else mundane). Without it my chipped tooth cuts my lip when grappling. He's of the prevention is much cheaper than repair mindset. I've worn one since and found it no problem with cardio. None of my teammates give me any grief over it and several have (after a few close calls or minor chips) decided it might be a good idea.

CorvoAttano, post: 60409, member: 33479

I've been training for about a combined 6 months and competed once. I know enough time to realize just how little I know, and recognize the difference in skill between the belt colors. Not many people around me use mouth guards when training. Once I heard the coach make a comment to a blue belt about a newer student using a mouth guard. I don't remember the exact words, but the message was that the guy was wimpy for using a mouth guard, because apparently you are tougher for not using one. My coach seems like a kind and respectful guy, but I have no idea if it is commonplace to make fun of mouthguards.

What do you think about this? I'm interested to hear if people across different skill levels, regions, or training backgrounds feel that mouthguards are for wimps, or make you less respectable, tough, etc. Are mouthguards in BJJ even necessary? I imagine around blue belt it starts preventing some injuries when rolling.

CorvoAttano, post: 60409, member: 33479

I've been training for about a combined 6 months and competed once. I know enough time to realize just how little I know, and recognize the difference in skill between the belt colors. Not many people around me use mouth guards when training. Once I heard the coach make a comment to a blue belt about a newer student using a mouth guard. I don't remember the exact words, but the message was that the guy was wimpy for using a mouth guard, because apparently you are tougher for not using one. My coach seems like a kind and respectful guy, but I have no idea if it is commonplace to make fun of mouthguards.

What do you think about this? I'm interested to hear if people across different skill levels, regions, or training backgrounds feel that mouthguards are for wimps, or make you less respectable, tough, etc. Are mouthguards in BJJ even necessary? I imagine around blue belt it starts preventing some injuries when rolling.

Mouthguard is part of the game.

People can think whatever they want about me using a mouth guard I did all through my wrestling days as well. I just smile at the haters with a full smile no missing teeth