If you have been sparring in boxing or any other martial arts I am sure that you are familiar with Shock Doctor brand.
When I checked the Shock Doctor’s official page I also saw many famous basketball players like Kevin Love, Demarcus Cousins… and more.
And this company has been producing mouth guards since 1993 and they expanded their catalog with other supportive and protective gears like cups and ankle braces over the years. In 2011 the company released a very small and quality mouth guard and I witnessed that people talked about this mouth guard in every other boxing gym.
Let’s start Shock Doctor Mouth Guard reviews with this one.
1. Shock Doctor Gel Max
Comfort: 9.5 / 10.0
Durability: 8.6 / 10.0
Exclusive Features
- Good protection
- Has holes for more comfort
- “Softer”
- Dental warranty
It has multi-layers and when a mouth guard is not made of medical silicone, it is the next best thing. This also allows a mouth guard to be thinner. When this is the case, the shock absorbance will be more. So it is suitable for martial arts where you get hit constantly.
The gel liner is soft and when you take a punch, it reduces the likelihood of cuts or gum injuries. This material is also good for fitting and remolding.
As you can see in the picture, it has bigger holes at the sides and it also has bigger channels to allow air in and out.
The cool thing is that you get a dental insurance! Obviously, there are circumstances which are not covered however considering my research, it covers a lot of things.
As a final note, it does not matter whether you prefer a mouth guard with a strap or not. You can choose one and expect a high performance for comfort.
This is boil and bite type mouth guard and there are many sizes including youth.
You can use Shock Doctor Gel Max for football, basketball, MMA, boxing… without a problem whatsoever.
Check This Mouth Guard on Amazon
2. Shock Doctor Double Braces
Comfort: 8.1 / 10.0
Durability: 8.9 / 10.0
Exclusive Features
- Excellent material
- Protects upper and lower teeth and gums
- A really good option for people who have braces
Do you have braces? Then honestly you don’t have a lot of options for a contact sport. This mouth guard type needs to be made of one of the high-quality materials and medical grade silicone is definitely one. When you take a punch or kick all the pressure will not be on your gums or teeth. This mouth guard offers protection for both upper and lower teeth. This also provides better protection for your jaw. When you get hit, thanks to the double mouth guard’s construction and design, your jaw will be protected better. It is just one advantage of a double mouth guard over single.
Honestly, it is not ideal to work out with braces. There can be incidents where things can go wrong. For example, the construction of braces can get worse after the impact, it can change its position and you may need to adjust it according to your braces. Well, Shock Doctor Double Braces basically minimizes these risks and if you have any brace type, I can easily say that you can go with this mouth guard. I used braces but I never did boxing while I was using it. However, there are many people who swear by this mouth guard and a myriad of online reviews, people in martial art gyms just swear by Shock Doctor Double Braces as well.
As many Shock Doctor products, this one also has “with strap” and “strapless” options. The channels are small and it helps that this mouth guard is smaller than the other double mouth guards.
3. Shock Doctor Max Airflow
Protection: 8.6 / 10.0
Comfort: 8.4 / 10.0
Durability: 8.5 / 10.0
Exclusive Features
- Protective guard
- Protect lips
- Good air flow
I am someone who can’t breathe well because I had a nose surgery 8 years ago and I really can’t say that the doctors did a good job. It is decent but it is not perfect and I sometimes need to use my mouth for breathing. I know it is not healthy but it is what it is.
Max Airflow has bigger breathing channels and the channels are deeper so it literally provides more air flow.
As you can see it has lip protection and considering that your lips can get cuts in any contact sports, you can avoid these with it.
After you bite it, Max Airflow is ready since it is “instant fit” type guard. So you don’t need to boil it in the water, try it on…
The materials are not different than the mouth guard above and you can expect to use it for a year. The durability gets B+ from me.
4. Shock Doctor Pro Mouth Guard
Protection: 8.5 / 10.0
Comfort: 9.0 / 10.0
Durability: 8.4 / 10.0
Exclusive Features
- Good construction (has bumps)
- Classic design
- Dental warranty
- Very affordable price!
My Experiences: I also used this popular model, which I got as a gift, for being safe from punches of my sparring buddy. As you may know, I mostly do boxing and basically, it was a bit bulky for my mouth. But obviously, I did not take a kick while wearing this so I really can’t say anything about that. It just has a classic design which is not too fancy or anything special and it covers your teeth without being too tight.
It also has a bit different surface and if you look at it closely, you can see that it has bumps. This increases the surface area thus the shock absorbing surface also increases. When this is the case, the delivered shock is far less than usual. So I can say that my friend picked a good present for me : ) This quality also decreases the chance of moving of the mouth guard which will be quite useful and help you protect your teeth and gums during your football, hockey or MMA training session. The composite construction is also good for protecting your soft tissue since most of your mouth guard does not contact your soft tissue at all.
Pro Mouth Guard is also really cheap. Also if the fitting is not good you can change it any time according to your preference.
About Shock Doctor
When I checked the official website I saw one of my favorite basketball players, Demarcus Cousins. This is just a side note. However, as you know Shock Doctor is quite popular among BJJ practitioners, MMA fighters, and boxers.
The company also offers cases with some of the guards and it should not be overlooked since if your gym bag does not have a special and protective compartment, your mouth guard can get deformations and as you can guess, this can affect the protection from the strikes badly. If you don’t have a budget for a high-quality custom mouth guard, Shock Doctor is definitely a good option for MMA or any other contact sport out there.
Also having a cheek protective headgear helps with the protection of your teeth and all overall protection.
I tried to be thorough with my review however if there is anything you wonder more about Shock Doctor Mouth Guards, just leave a comment below and I will reply to you.
I read this article with interest as my son as recently gone into contact sports so I shall pass this information onto him.
Who would have known that they were so many different variations of protective gum shields out there?
Thanks for sharing.
This is definitely beneficial for anyone who participates in contact sports.
I also hate gum related injuries as my gums are not healthy at all and I don’t want to have any extra gum related problems so while buying a mouth guard I am always careful about gum protection.
Hi
Thanks for sharing, very interesting Post I wish i had known about the Shock Doctor when my boys were playing Rugby, many a time after a game we were off to the Dentist due to cheap Gum Guards that had absolutely no protection at all.
Well, rugby is a tough sport and unfortunately, gums get hurt a lot during games.
You should pick one which is thicker for rugby so it can protect better. I hope Shock Doctor will protect your sons better from now on. If you need more info about a specific model you can ask.
I’ve boxed and done MMA for 10 years and I did use Shock Doctor for some time until I got a custom mould.
I thought it was very good for the price.
I’ve tried the double-brace style before too but it was a bit restrictive on the breathing.
I know a lot of people who use regular mouth guards for MMA sessions and then when they realized the importance of it, they also invested in high-quality custom one. I actually did the same. Yeah, I agree but if one has braces, seriously it is one of the best options out there.