“It is amazing how much stronger I am when my jaws are aligned”. ….. This is the kind of thing we hear all the time once someone has been introduced to neuromuscular (NM) dentistry and how it can help them.
For athletes the bottom line simply stated is, if your bite, jaw muscles, and joint are in harmony you are stronger, more flexible, have better balance and endurance. Sounds a bit outrageous but it is true, and there are years of research in neuromuscular (NM) dentistry to back up the claims. I have seen it demonstrated many times in my own practice.
Finally the world of sports has taken notice of the edge it provides to athletic pursuits. A mouthguard has been developed using these neuromuscular principles that improves performance in the areas I mentioned above, such as strength, flexibility, balance and endurance. Fortunately for us we have the training in NM dentistry that allows us to fit athletes with this special mouthguard. It is called the PPM mouthguard.
I think this is so cool. To all of us NM dentists it makes so much sense to provide this for the serious athlete. I like how it improves performance without a drug, or some blood doping technique. Chime in if you have any questions. I will be glad to answer them if I can.