Headgear that'll protect someone with dental implants.

[Mumrik]

I have a friend who recently started boxing.
He'd like to at some point start sparring too, but he basically has all false teeth and don't dare do something that could ruin them. I'm not totally hip to the kind of dental installation he has going, but according to him it's not very strong. A mouthguard won't help much as it mostly spreads the impact over all the teeth and it won't take much to knock his off. This means that he can't take a shot to the mouth or the jaw, so facesaver designs won't do.

There are a lot of headgears out there with metal shields etc. like this one:
http://store.titleboxing.com/title-pro-cage-training-headgear.html
But are any of them actually any good? Those teeth of his were pretty expensive...

He's probably never going to be sparring at high intensity, but it would be cool if there was a product that'd allow him to spar at something like 25%.

 

[zombiejitsu***]

 

[ECS123]

Those ones with the metal cages get really mixed reviews, and I have heard some people say that under certain conditions, they felt the cage may actually be able to move far enough to contact their face. As far as regular face bar headgear, from what I understand the top three are definitely the Winning FG5000, with the Everlast Safemax headgear, and the new version of the Fightgear facebar headgear both coming in second with a really good fit and protection, at a very nice price.

He may be better off with one of the three that I mentioned, a very good mouthguard, and a clear advisory to his sparring partners about watching the uppercuts, and toning down the volumn due to his concerns.

:icon_chee

 

[JKDEastNashvill]

Implants are like $3k-$5k each...so a nice Winning Headgear and a Custom Guard is CHEAP

 

[Mumrik]

Yep, but those primarily protect the nose right? That's not really the issue here. I'm hoping to find something that'll prevent his mouth and jaw from taking a direct impact. Looking at the video review of the Everlast it seems to cover rather low, but there's still access to jaw, especially via uppercuts and I don't think he'd be comfortable relying on a partner remembering not to punch there.

As for the mouth guard. As I understand it the mouthguards primary purpose is to
a) Prevent damage from crashing your teeth against each other
b) distribute the impact across all your teeth so that you don't hurt the few that are hit directly with the punch

All his teeth are basically already connected (if I've understood correctly). The problem is that the connection to his bone isn't likely to tolerate much stress, so even with a good custom guard I think there'd be great risk of disaster.

Like ECS123 I've also heard a lot of bad things about headgears with plastic and metal face protection. That's why I'm asking here.

 

[Maori Taskforce]

If a good mouthguard and caged headgear can't protect the kids teeth, then I doubt anything will.

There is nothing that will protect him well enough against sparring partners that he can't trust not to uppercut him and don't respect his disposition. He's going to have to look for a new gym if that's the case (not trying to sound like an ass and bash the way people at any particular gym train, but I know all my guys have the self control to avoid uppercutting someone if asked)


Any reputable mouth guard fitted by a dentist is going to financially cover the kids teeth. including 15$ shock doctor boil'n'bites. If he's still worried about his teeth while wearing a full cage face guard and a mouth guard that is going to pay for anything that gets broken, then he needs a new sport. Chess perhaps. (again, not trying to sound like an ass, but injury comes with the territory. A good mouth guard that's fitted properly is going to pay to fix any broken teeth)

 

[BigCP84**]

Implants are like $3k-$5k each...so a nice Winning Headgear and a Custom Guard is CHEAP

I have to agree, go with the winning gear with the big bar across the face like Pacquiao uses to train.

 

[Mumrik]

Any reputable mouth guard fitted by a dentist is going to financially cover the kids teeth. including 15$ shock doctor boil'n'bites. If he's still worried about his teeth while wearing a full cage face guard and a mouth guard that is going to pay for anything that gets broken, then he needs a new sport. Chess perhaps. (again, not trying to sound like an ass, but injury comes with the territory. A good mouth guard that's fitted properly is going to pay to fix any broken teeth)

Mouth guards don't come with those guarantees here - I'm not in the US. There aren't really teeth anymore either, are they? I'm not even sure they'd be covered in the US.

When you say full cage face guard are you talking about face saver style gear with the bar across the nose (like the one from Winning) or caged gear like the one I linked in the first post?
Because something like this would probably be fine if they were any good - that's why I'm asking here.
Training Safety Headgear Full Cage

As for the custom guards and Winning head gear - The guy is also poor (the state payed for the teeth but won't do it a second time), so he's basically probably only getting what we (his friends) feel like giving him. That means that the super expensive stuff is out of the question.

 

[CrossFacerX]

Fairtex Full Face Headgear-Combatsports.com

This one has jaw padding so on top of the bar he gets a little extra?

 

[BigCP84**]

Everlast makes a more affordable version:

Everlast SafeMax Headgear-www.Ringside.com

 

[Maori Taskforce]

My apologies, I didn't realize you were outside of the US.

I've found that type of headgear is almost less protective, since it creats a sort of tunnel vision and makes it harder to avoide things you would normally see coming.

 

[JKDEastNashvill]

Burton Richardson uses these Helmet with Face Cage [Macho MVP] - $110.00 : Zen Cart!, The Art of E-commerce

They use them in all his classes and he told me that he has been using them with his Pro fighters too.

I own a pair of them myself.
Doesn't hinder your peripheral vision at all.
The headgear absorbs shock really well.
The only hazard you have to watch out for is if your sparring partners hit their fingers on the cage or get their fingers caught in the cage.

Burton uses them for Standup, Grappling and Stick and Knife sparring.
Their guys use them in EVERY training session and say that they hold up well with a little care when taking them off.
They tend to start to split up the back after a while.

 

[ECS123]

A good mouthguard not only distributes any impact across the front, it also stabilizes the jaw, so all of his teeth including the rear ones that contact the guard will be resisting any frontal impact, and even in his particular case, if a frontal impact were to occur, a high quality mouthguard would certainly help. Also, the facebar headgear will also keep shots off the chin to a great extent, it is just an inside uppercut that would cause him problems.

Under the circumstances it may be best, for him to train everything, and rather than spar with any amount of force, just exchange techniques. He could wear the mouthguard and headgear, and pick a "mature experienced" partner to exchange techniques with. I don't think he will be competing or fighting, so sparring is not an absolute essential. He can do everything but spar at force, and he will have the benefits of training and working out, without any of the risk associated with ruining the implants. There is certainly no reason he can't participate in training, there will just be limitations.

:icon_chee