Why Doesn’t Anyone Wear A Mouthguard In Judo?
In all of the training I had done, which is about 6 years, I don’t recall a single time I’ve seen anyone wearing a mouth piece either in randori, or competition.
That being said, just because it’s not a common practice, it doesn’t mean it shouldn’t be done.
I mean, jiu-jitsu players wear them a lot more often. Now obviously, BJJ is a rather different sport to begin with, as there is just more contact around the whole face area, but that alone doesn’t really explain why no judokas wear them.
I chipped one of my teeth after getting thrown and diving a bit too much with my head. If I had a mouthguard on, none of that would have happened.
And I’m not even talking about countless of times I’ve heard of people busting their lips open, even knocking some teeth out. Again, the chance of that happening is a lot more slim than in jiu-jitsu or whatnot, but it happens.
Maybe they are banned?
Nope, not that I can tell. Perhaps before, but I can’t find much information online on either people getting disqualified for such a thing, or it being prohibited to begin with, even in bigger competitions.
With that said, I guess this can depend from tournament to tournament.
Then why aren’t people wearing them?
I think it all boils down to tradition. Judo players rarely wear them, because they never wore them much to begin with.
And the peer pressure thing doesn’t help much either. I mean, imagine yourself being the only person in your club using one.
But someone has to set the trend, right? So it might as well be you.
Now even if you couldn’t wear any mouth protection in shiai (competition), I don’t see any reason why you would not want to do so during randori, as this is the time a player usually gets roughened up the most, as I see it.
Grip fighting, rubbing close to the gi when going for throws, especially sacrifice like tani-otoshi, are the times when your face has more of a chance to connect with something.
Mouthguards are truly the way to go
If you think that a mouth piece can only help prevent damage to your teeth, think again, as it does a lot more than that.
A properly fitted mouthguard reinforces the habit of keeping your mouth shut, which is critical in order to avoid any damage to your upper or lower lips.
Another thing is the state of your teeth. If your teeth are as imperfect as mine, a mouth piece will cover them good, and that alone will stop them catching on the inside of your mouth during contact.
And last, but certainly not least, is it can reduce the chance of concussions (read the study here). Judo is certainly not boxing, but ramming your head into the mats isn’t an uncommon thing, concussions either.
But a mouthguard can only work so well if it’s custom made.
The ones you can buy at any sporting store and use by boiling and biting aren’t horrible, but custom made and properly fitted work much, much better.
Some dentist offices offer such a service, or you can find a place online which specializes in making custom-fit mouthguards. The choice is yours.
In conclusion
Judo is a full contact sport. Accidents happen, that’s for sure.
And even though a mouthguard might look “wrong” to some purists out there, safety is number one priority; especially when you want to do this thing as long as you can.