The short version for parents
A child’s upper front teeth are at their most exposed in exactly the years when children play the most contact sport. The permanent incisors come through at around seven to nine, and their roots take a further two to three years to finish forming — so an impact at nine damages a tooth that is not yet a finished tooth. A sports mouthguard (Sportschiene, in everyday German usually Mundschutz) spreads the force of a blow across the whole arch instead of letting it land on one incisor. The complication specific to children is growth: a guard that fits beautifully in autumn can be tight by summer, which is why children’s guards are checked and renewed more often than adults’. Statutory health insurance (gesetzliche Krankenversicherung, GKV) does not pay for a sports mouthguard — it is a private, preventive purchase, unlike a night guard for teeth grinding.
Why the risk peaks between seven and twelve
Ask any dentist which teeth they see broken after sport, and the answer is always the same: the two upper central incisors. Three things make this age group vulnerable at once.
The teeth are brand new. An incisor erupting at seven or eight has a root that is still open at the tip and still forming. Damage at that stage hits a tooth that has to last another seventy years, and the treatment is rarely one appointment — it tends to become a relationship with a dentist that runs into adulthood.
The front teeth sit further forward. Many children go through a phase where the upper incisors are prominent, particularly before orthodontic treatment. Dental associations have long counted protruding upper front teeth and incomplete lip cover among the anatomical risk factors for injury.
Coordination is still developing. Between seven and twelve, children fall more, collide more, and stop themselves with their face more often than teenagers do.
The consequences are worth stating plainly, without drama. A chipped corner can often be repaired with a filling. A fracture into the nerve may need root canal treatment (Wurzelbehandlung). A tooth lost entirely leaves a gap in a jaw that is still growing, where an implant is not an option until growth has finished — so the years in between are bridged with temporary solutions. That is the real argument for a guard: not fear, just arithmetic.
Which sports, and how it works in German school and club sport
Germany has no blanket rule that children must wear a mouthguard. Requirements come from each sport’s own federation.
School sport (Schulsport) sits in the middle: nobody will send your child home without a guard, and nobody will stop them wearing one. If your child plays a ball sport twice a week at a Verein, the guard belongs in the bag next to the shin pads — and it goes in for training as well as matches, because injuries do not wait for match day. Sport by sport, the picture is in Which sports need a mouthguard?.
The three kinds of guard — and which suits a growing mouth
| Type | How it fits | Speaking and breathing | Realistic use for a child |
|---|---|---|---|
| Stock guard (sports shop) | One shape for everyone, held in by biting down | Poor — the child has to clench to keep it in | Stopgap only |
| Boil-and-bite (shaped at home in hot water) | Roughly moulded; the material thins where it is bitten hardest | Moderate | Short-term; often ends up in the bag |
| Custom-made (dental laboratory, from a scan) | Made to that child’s teeth and bite, thickness placed where impacts land | Good — usually what decides whether it is worn | The practical option for regular sport |
Comfort matters more for children than for adults. A guard that makes speaking difficult gets pushed out with the tongue, ends up in a pocket, and protects nothing at all. The best predictor of whether a child’s mouthguard works is whether the child wears it — decided by fit, not by good intentions. The drugstore boil-and-bite familiar to American parents is better than nothing, but the difference from a laboratory-made guard shows in how long the material holds its shape: see Custom-made or shop-bought mouthguard — which is better?.
Braces, aligners and mouthguards
With fixed braces (feste Zahnspange), a mouthguard matters more, not less. Brackets turn the inside of the lip into a row of small hard edges, and a blow can cut it badly. A guard for a child in braces is designed with space around the brackets, so it neither presses on them nor locks onto them, and it needs re-checking more often.
Clear aligners (Aligner) are not sports protection. They are thin, rigid and made to move teeth, not to absorb impact. Aligners come out for contact sport and the mouthguard goes in. A removable retainer is not protection either, and belongs in its case during sport rather than a jacket pocket.
Growth: why a child's guard does not last as long as yours
An adult’s custom guard, looked after, can survive several seasons. A child’s rarely does — not because it wears out faster, but because the mouth underneath it changes. Between six and thirteen, baby teeth are lost, permanent teeth erupt and the jaw grows; a guard made before a canine comes through will not accommodate that canine afterwards.
So bring the guard along to every routine check-up and have the fit looked at while your child is in the chair anyway — what an individually made guard involves is described on Sports mouthguards – service page (EN). Expect to replace it during the years of active tooth change, and budget for that from the start — the money side is set out in What does a sports mouthguard cost?. The signs it has been outgrown: tight going in, deep marks on the gums, “it doesn’t sit right”, or the back teeth no longer fully covered.
After an impact: what can wait, and what cannot
Injuries happen even to children who wear a guard, and what you do in the first hour matters more than almost anything a dentist does afterwards.
Go straight to a dentist or the out-of-hours service (Notdienst) if a permanent tooth has been knocked out. Here minutes count.
- Pick the tooth up by the crown, never by the root.
- Do not scrub it, do not use soap, do not wrap it in a dry tissue.
- German dental associations recommend transporting a knocked-out tooth in a tooth rescue box (Zahnrettungsbox) from a pharmacy; failing that, cold UHT milk is the usual fallback, and saline or the child’s own saliva beats nothing. Never plain tap water.
- Aim to be with a dentist within the hour — the chances of replanting fall the longer the tooth is out.
If you are new to Germany
A few things routinely catch international families out.
The mouthguard is not a statutory benefit. Your fund pays for prevention like check-ups, but a sports guard is private. The appliance people confuse it with is the night guard (Knirscherschiene) for teeth grinding (Bruxismus), which statutory insurance does cover once a dentist has diagnosed grinding — a different appliance for a different problem.
Cover for an injury and the cost of the guard are separate questions. Ask the school or the Verein how accidents during sport are handled; the guard itself is prevention that you buy. You do not need a referral (Überweisung) to book with a dental practice.
Language. Explaining a dental injury under pressure, in a second language, with a frightened child, is not the moment to be reaching for vocabulary. We treat families in English every day, along with German, Russian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Arabic, Kurdish and French — see English-Speaking Dentist in NRW. Parents come to us from across Wuppertal and the neighbouring towns for that reason.
As soon as the permanent front teeth have come through far enough to be covered properly — for most children around seven or eight. Younger children in combat sports do get them, and they are adapted more often. The deciding factor is the stage of tooth development, not the birthday.
Guards are not compulsory in German football and most children play without one. Football is also one of the most common causes of dental injuries at this age — through collisions and elbows rather than the ball. It is a real decision for parents, and reasonable to make differently from the rest of the team.
Yes, and it is generally advisable — but it should be made with the brackets in mind rather than pressed onto them at home. Tell us your child is in orthodontic treatment and who is providing it.
Let them choose the colour, put their name and club on it, and have them wear it at training rather than only at matches so it becomes routine. If they say it is bulky or makes them gag, that is a fit problem worth showing us — it can usually be adjusted.
The years when children’s front teeth are newest are the years they are most likely to take a knock. A mouthguard does not remove that risk, and no honest dentist will claim it does; it spreads the force of an impact and makes a serious injury less likely. For a child, fit decides everything — a guard that is uncomfortable will not be worn — and it needs re-checking as the mouth grows. Raise it at a normal check-up rather than booking a separate appointment. And if an accident does happen, remember the tooth rescue box and the hour.
Zahnarztpraxis Tsypin · Wuppertal. This article was medically reviewed and is provided for information; it does not replace an examination. Updated August 2026.
