 Poster: A snowHead
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I have been toying with this idea for my son for a while,he dosnt have the best pearly whites in the world, but from a safety point of view, does it help;if you get a smack in the face from a rebounding sl gate do you get any protection?
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Would the gate get past a chin guard?
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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DAB, I bought one years ago but have never used it, I just find it too messy to put in and take out.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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rob@rar, was hoping you would reply!Son has been hit in face once by a gate but he was just learning the tech. He goes to Schladming so they train SL a lot, but the WC all seem to wear one, I was wondering why?Is it a case of ´just in case´
rjs, how, messy???
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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In my case....split lip and gum! One in a million maybe....but it does happen. 
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Fit a chinguard to the helmet, much better than a gum shield - can't see the point in having both. I think beginners (like me) are much more likely to get hit in the face as they have much less control of what is going on while doing a run through the gates, even though they will be skiing more slowly than an experienced racer. I forgot to take my chinguard to a training session yesterday and felt very nervous when skiing the gates as I've had quite a few ping off the guard before now.
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GreyCat, were you wearing a gum shield?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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a gum shield may also prevent you from biting your own tongue in half in contact - my old man did just that playing rugby years ago when he forgot his gum shield. Someone tackled him and BITE....bit his own tongue nearly clean off!!!
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Don't ever remember seeing kids on the dry slope circuit with gum shields, but chin guards seem pretty much standard, certainly amongst the younger ones.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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DAB, No i wasn't at the time.....bliddy hurt ! Face/chin guard would more than suffice, but gum shield makes sense if you can get him to wear one.....
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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GreyCat, OK; think I will look into getting him one, pain is not an option!
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I have a chin guard but not a gum-shield. philbo was though recommending having a gum-shield (and back-protector) the other week. I can see more of a need for that in the higher speed disciplines, and I suspect it's a very good idea for GS, but I've never felt a need for SL. I can't remember ever seeing one at a dry-slope race I've been at.
I agree with rob@rar about chinguards - if he's doing SL then it's absolutely mandatory IMO. When I was starting out, I had no helmet and was really shying away from the gates. The coach then lent me his facemask - essentially a chin and forehead guard without the associated full helmet. The next run I was probably about a second quicker as I was so much closer to the gates. Very clear demonstration of the benefit of a chinguard. I now probably headbut a gate out the way every 3 or 4 runs, and its of no concern whatever.
I've also had some good old face plants on Dendix  and come off with little more than a slightly bruised lip. I'd say make sure you have a helmet+chinguard that provides good coverage (but not the extent of the semi-full-face you get with a DH guard). Mine (a very cheap Rock, no peak across the forehead) is actually a bit defective in that if you get the angle right (i.e. wrong) the pole can still get around and whack you on the eyesocket. The ones on SH+ and Scott helmets look fairly good to me - a decent peak to keep the pole away from the eyes as well as the chinguard for the mouth.
So my recommendation is chingard mandatory, gumshield optional for SL, probably a good idea for GS.
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You know it makes sense.
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A lot of the WC guys are wearing gumshields for slalom, even with chinguards. Any kind of crash or impact can jar your jaw if you have your mouth slightly open. Get him one and see if he doesn't mind wearing it.
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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| DAB wrote: |
| rjs, how, messy??? |
You put it in your mouth, if you need to take it out it will be covered in saliva and you then have to find somewhere clean to put it. Probably not a big deal on a race day when you are only doing two runs but a pain when training and you need to eat, drink or talk to anyone.
They are a good idea, you are going fairly fast even in SL on snow and can hit the ground hard, they just don't work for me.
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Poster: A snowHead
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Thanks guys, seems the general opinion is a yes, if I can get him to wear it, mmmmm 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Gum shields are compulsory for all sports at my Daughters school.
From personal experience new front teeth for adults are £3000 (three thousand) each
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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Hi DAB,
The Gum shield one of my sons has and he's a ski racer too, came with a small plastic box which protects it when it's not being worn.He's in the middle of Orthodontic treatment and at the moment has fixed braces on both upper and lower teeth.
Certainly, racing on the snow even with a chin guard fixed to the slalom helmet the gum shield adds extra protection of not biting his tongue, lips and damaging the delicate wires on his brace!
DAB... try to get one that his moulded to his teeth then it won't move.
From your last post though it sounds like your son is reluctant to wear it? Better to be safe than sorry! You too know what this ski racing is like. You just need one person to set a trend with equipment and others follow suit! Good Luck & See you soon!
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Gillian, how true how true,still havent seen any trailers like ours though  Hope all goes well for the lads in Frant this week-end,maybe see you in Saas Fee?
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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Hi DAB,
My son doesn't currently wear a gumshield for racing (he's a 'mini' so the speeds aren't up there with the teenagers yet) but we have seen one of his team-mates suffer a broken tooth. She was wearing a helmet with a chin guard fitted but the pole somehow found it's way inside and broke one of her front teeth.
Obviously very painful for her, but the way all the kids searched the slope for the missing tooth looked like something from junior CSI! And yes, on a 170m dry slope, they found it!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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despite having hit more gates than I care to remember I never even considered buying one for some reason, probably should have. Chin guards are crucial though
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Wish I'd had a gum shield when i got a knee to the chin... it ended up very expensive
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AndyB1080, was it your knee or someone elses?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Out in NZ my mates helmet got destroyed by the gate (he is pretty fast in SL around the 60 point mark) so ripped the chin guard off and the gate hit him in the face, broken cheekbone and pretty bad damage to the eye. His chin and mouth were still fine though. So unless you are really unlucky you shouldnt find the gate manages to ruin your teeth. (one of my coaches had been hit in the mouth and has a brace now at 24yrs old, no chin guard=mistake)
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Hi, from my limited understanding of things, a bite guard is primarily used to protect your teeth when you are expecting sudden and forceful coming together of the top and bottom teeth ie in a crash/collision/sudden fall. I have not had experience of the chin guard but I would imagine that is more to protect external impact forces. Both types of trauma could of course result in breakages of your teeth/soft tissue trauma. In high impact sports ie ice hockey and american football, it is common to see both use of biteguard and face guard and I suspect the reason is because of the different modality of trauma possible.
I will have a look at the literature when I am a bit more free at work and try to expand on this if I can. I'm certainly no expert as I have not specialist training in sports dentistry but I do have an interest in this field.
PS There are many different types of bite guards and certain manufacturers (for the professional made ones ie Playsafe) recommend a higher level of protection for skiing than their average standard types.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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So.... I had a quick look around online and surprise surprise there was no studies about mouthguard/chinguard effectivity for slalom skiiers by the dental/medical bodies.
As a poor substitute, I looked at an extract from a study they did comparing injury to ice hockey players who wore half/full face shield +/- a mouth guard. I cannot verify the validity of this particular study as I do not have the full paper, but they found that in both instances wearing a mouth guard helped to reduce injuries which would have prevented the athletic from playing/training.
I can only guess that similarly to the rebounding gate stick, that whilst a face shield would prevent the hockey player from trauma from an external object such as the impact from the hockey puck, that the mouth guard would prevent overloading/clashing/clenching of the teeth during violent movement of the head.
One should bear in mind however that the modality of trauma in ice hockey is different from that of a slalom skiier, with the most common type of orofacial injury in ice hockey being stick injury.
You can find the extract here:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11867489?itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=20
Should you be interested in getting a mouth guard, the consensus from the literature is that a professionally made, 4mm thick, EVA mouthguard would provide the ideal protection. This provides "the best balance" between comfort (improved compliance to wear) and protection. I note however that the US Army trialed the "boil and fit" type guards (cheaper) for its recruits with siginificant success in 2001, as a result they concluded it should be made mandatory to all new recruits.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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Interesting that this thread continued! Personally i think it's a good idea to protect the teeth with a mouthguard. No 1 son has completed his orthodontic treatment now so both sons now have playsafe mouthguards which we had fitted by our Dentist. We thoroughly recommend this product although the 60 minute appointment each to initially take the moulds was a little uncomfortable! Worth it in the end!! You can choose from many different styles so they both have the union jack pattern. Definite peace of mind for ski racing!!
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You know it makes sense.
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streaky, thank you for that information, I am trying to convince my son to wear one but as none of his classmates in Schladming wear one, its tough going! Gillian, Looking forward to seeing you at the BARSC;LB missed your boys at the camp 
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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Hi DAB, I loving the arguments for gum shields though I've never worn one myself. I'm sure it's just luck that I've never had serious whack in the teeth from skiing slalom, but I'd recommend a slalom specific helmet with chin guard as the first priority. The chin guard should take care of most impacts to the face from slalom poles, however rare they may be.
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FAQ
Additionally, put a face guard on his crash helmet....better safe than sorry.....
