Citation

Westerman B, Stringfellow PM, Eccleston JA. Aust. Dent. J. 2000; 45(1): 21-23.

Affiliation

Department of Mathematics, University of Queensland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2000, Australian Dental Association, Publisher John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

10846268

Abstract

One of the suggestions for using laminated mouthguards is the inclusion of hard inserts to improve mouthguard performance. However, there is a paucity of published material on the use of such inserts and this study was designed to investigate this theory. Hard layers of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) were included in laminated mouthguard sheets which were then subject to repeated impacts with an impact rig. Hard inserts resulted in reduced energy absorption when compared with a control sheet of the same material and approximate thickness but without the hard inserts. Additionally, the further the hard inserts were located from the impact surface, the least reduction there was on energy absorption.