There are three factors that gum shields use to decrease the damage caused by an impact;
1. Time
2. Area
3. Physical barrier
Time
A punch is a punch no matter how you look at it. The first way in which a gum shield decreases the damage caused by a punch is to increase the time it takes for the energy or “force” of said punch to be dissipated.
TO calculate the force of an impact the formula is:
F = force, m = mass and a = acceleration
To understand how a gum shield works in this respect we can show this equation in relation to what acceleration is.
a = acceleration, vt = final velocity, vi = initial velocity and t = time
If we substitute this equation into F=ma then we get
From this we can simplify to show that;
In simple terms this shows that force is inversely proportional to time. i.e. the longer it takes to dissipate the energy of the punch the less force is generated.
As a gum shield is made of an elastic compressive material this increases the time that the impacting object is slowed down by.
If, for example, the energy of a punch is dissipated by your teeth in 1 millisecond, without a gum shield and
with a gum shield this time is 4 milliseconds then as
the force experienced by the teeth is 1/4 of the force without a gum shield!Area
As with time, the force (F) is inversely proportional to the area over which the force is applied. As the gum shield gives the force a greater area to act over the final force on the teeth is reduced.
1. Positioning
Physical Barrier
A good well fitted gum shield holds your jaw apart in a way as to never let the teeth of one jaw come into contact with the other teeth in the other jaw. If this were to occur then as in the previous point the contact area of two rigid bodies (your teeth) would be very small and thus as to magnify the force leading to a broken tooth!
A good gum shield will also cover all if the teeth and so prevent any direct impact damage from a punch, a stud or anything else that has taken a dislike to your face!
In summation if you’re doing anything where you are likely to sustain impacts to the head from sports to annoying your girlfriend, a gum shield is sure to protect you with all its sciencey goodness!
Source: http://themovementlabs.com/2014/03/06/how-gumshieldsmouthguards-work-opro-gopro-slomo/
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