There are places to cut corners that will not come back to bite you, but a mouth guard is definitely not one of those places. If training strictly grappling, some folks might even say “why wear one, we don’t strike here?” To which I reply “I am not a fan of eating the errant knee or elbow to the face without something keeping my teeth in my mouth.” I have seen it far too often – and nowadays, the better mouth guards are even cut in such a way as to prevent your lips from taking a beating along with protecting your chompers. My mouth guard of choice is a relatively inexpensive one: The ShockDoctor Double Nano Fight Mouthguard (coincidentally, it’s a mouthful, but bear with me). At $24.99, it is on the higher side of the boil and bite segment (more on that later) but far below the $100 and up price tag you see for fully custom pieces. You simply grab this off the shelf, boil it, bite down and suck the air and water out of it, then drop it in cold water to set the mold. Granted, it might take a few tries to really get the alignment down (as well as figuring out the Zen of getting the water hot enough for molding purposes, but not hot enough to decimate your gums on contact), but once it fits in there comfortably, you have an absolute workhorse of a mouthguard. With other pieces I have often found myself either cutting down the upper edges so they are not eviscerating the insides of my mouth or even hacking away at the back portions near the gums so that I can get the wad of plastic somewhat in there. Not this bad boy – it is the mouthguard I have had to do the least (sometimes not any) amounts of modifications to find that sweet spot for fit. The Double Nano is a bit thicker overall than the cheaper ($11.99) ShockDoctor Gel Max, but it makes up for this with added protection and vents in between the upper and lower layers to aid with breathing and talking. How does it hold up on the mat? In a word, delightfully. Whether it is letting you slightly eat shots to the face during a scramble, or not outright gagging you when that head and shoulder pressure is bearing down during a pass, the Double Nano keeps your jaw firm, your teeth secure, and won’t make you pay in cardio currency for using a mouthguard in the first place. And for my money, grabbing the anti-microbial case along with the mouthguard itself is a great move, since it lets you have a bit of separation between your mouthguard and the rest of the gear living in your bag between mat sessions. Now, I definitely do not just rely on the ventilation and antimicrobial juju to keep it totally clean, instead supplementing both by dunking it in a shallow bowl of mouthwash when not at the academy. Might be coincidence, but 12 years of grappling and not one case of mouth funk…you be the judge!

Bottom Line: The ShockDoctor Double Nano Fight is affordable, guards your grill, and won’t feel like someone threw a bit in your mouth and is trying to work you out at the Kentucky Derby when cardio becomes a factor. Great Buy!

Hope this helped, see you on the mats!