Shock Doctor, a mouthguard technology company, and the National Basketball Association (NBA) have announced a partnership to promote the use of mouth guards in all levels of play. In addition to the deal, Shock Doctor has been named the official mouthguard of the NBA, Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA), NBA Development League (NBA D-League) and USA Basketball (USAB).
The partnership will also allow Shock Doctor to create retail lines for each league and make team-specific merchandise. The protective equipment company has had relationships with multiple professional NBA players like Kevin Love who acts as a spokesperson for the brand.
According to National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, the sport of basketball causes an average of 310,636 injuries per year, more than any of the other 33 sports in their system, with 13.86% of them being to the head or face. In 1999, Dr. Cynthia R. LaBella researched data on dental injuries and concussions throughout the season for 50 Division I men’s basketball programs to find that only 13 percent of the players in the study wore mouth guards. The researchers had also found that those who did not wear mouth guards were more than six times as likely to obtain a serious injury.
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With these numbers, it is obvious that it is important to teach the athletes at a young age the importance of protecting themselves while they play and what better way than to see the players they look up to sporting the protective gear?
Shock Doctor has been in business since 1992 when they were awarded their first mouthguard patent. They now have a line of 12 mouth guards which offer multi-layering, custom gel-fitting, lower profiles and are now lighter in weight.