Now researchers and engineers may have found one solution, with a technologically advanced mouth guard that can detect concussions. A team of engineers and neurosurgeons at Prevent Biometrics (a spinoff of the Cleveland Clinic) has developed the Prevent Impact Monitor (IM) Mouthguard, which can detect potential concussion-causing impacts in real time. The mouth guard, which took more than a decade to design, measures the distance, angle, and force of a blow and then lights up to signal when brain damage may have occurred during impact. The data is then transferred to a mobile and web app for further review via Bluetooth. Prevent Biometrics is targeting football, hockey, and lacrosse players from youth to the college level, but hope that professional teams will take interest, too. “We’ve taken the guesswork out of identifying athletes for concussion assessment by turning the ineffective, observational method [of diagnosing concussions] into an effective, data-driven method,” said Steve Washburn, chief executive officer of Prevent Biometrics, in a press release earlier this year. David Sigel, the chief marketing officer of Prevent Biometrics, says that embedding the technology into a mouth guard is better than helmet-based sensors because the upper arch of teeth provides a secure coupling to the skull. “This is an important differentiator from a helmet because the mouth guard gives a more accurate picture of the movement of the head, since the device is attached to the skull itself,” Sigel says. “Helmet-based sensors, on the other hand, have been proven to be inaccurate because the helmet moves too much independently of the head,” Sigel says. “Oftentimes the helmet’s movement is what’s being calculated and not the impact to the head itself.” The Prevent IM Mouthguard is currently in beta testing in a few regions in the United States with a number of youth, high school, and college teams in various sports including football, hockey, lacrosse, boxing, and rugby. Sigel adds that the mouth guard is also in use by major concussion researchers in the States. The Prevent IM Mouthguard will be available in two options: a boil-and-bite mouth guard (a standard thermoplastic mouth guard that can withstand boiling temperatures) for $199 and a custom-fabricated mouth guard for $299. As a college rugby player, Anthony Gonzales wanted to create a company by athletes, for athletes to make high-impact sports safer. As a graduate student at Arizona University, he founded Force Impact Technologies (FIT), a company that integrates technology into sporting equipment to increase detection of potential injuries. The company received several grants in 2013 to develop a mouthpiece that lights up to signal a concussion. Similar to the Prevent Biometrics product, FIT’s FITGuard measures linear acceleration (how fast the skull is starting and stopping) and rotational acceleration (how fast the head is spinning). The device also has a magnetometer which can identify where the head is facing when it receives an impact. The FITGuard has an app component and asks users to provide their weight, age, and gender to produce a more individualized impact threshold and concussion risk, a feature that’s not available on the Prevent IM Mouthguard. Users complete a baseline cognitive exam when they receive the FITGuard, which is then repeated after moments of high-impact during practice and game play. And the FITGuard is HIPAA compliant, meaning that the data can be brought to a doctor to determine a diagnosis. Pending a Stanford-backed white paper and clinical trials slated for the coming months, Gonzales foresees that the mouth guard will be available in the fall of 2018. RELATED: What Complications Can Arise From a Concussion? But not everyone is convinced that concussion-detecting mouth guards are the answer to concussion diagnosis. Alan Shahtaji, DO, a sports medicine and family physician as well as the codirector of the Sports Concussion Clinic at UC San Diego Health, finds evidence of the benefits of concussion-monitoring mouth guards to be inconclusive. “Unfortunately, there’s nothing that really can prevent concussions, Dr. Shahtaji says. “There are certain contact laws in youth sports, and in soccer you have to be a certain age in some states to head a ball — we know those methods are effective in preventing concussions. With the monitors, we don’t have good literature on that yet.” Shahtaji says that parents who are considering dropping at least $199 on a mouth guard for their young athletes may want to think again. “How do you measure the actual force that is transferred to the brain? It’s not just a linear force, so damage can be easily overestimated, or underestimated [by tracking devices],” he adds. Joshua Blomgren, DO, a sports medicine physician at Rush University Medical Center and a co-team physician for the Chicago White Sox, believes that even if the mouth guard can accurately measure the linear and rotational force of impact, many athletes may still avoid seeking treatment. “It’s very common that people won’t report their symptoms because they don’t want to go through the protocol for returning to play,” Dr. Blomgren says. New gizmos and gadgets aside, the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS) urges physicians, coaches, and parents to take the following steps to help athletes prevent and monitor impact:
Discourage athletes from hiding symptoms of concussions including:HeadacheDizzinessConcentration lossPoor sleepRemember that athletes who experience severe symptoms or have a history of concussions may have a prolonged recovery.Note that female athletes may be more likely to have a concussion.
If you suspect a concussion, visit a doctor as soon as possible so they can assist you in creating an individualized recovery plan. Mouth guards can’t prevent traumatic brain injuries, but they can signal the need for treatment and recovery, stopping further damage before it can become fatal.
