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Dentistry focus: In the running
23rd Jan 2012
Enhance Dental Spa is a private practice based in Ely, Cambridgeshire, and offers general and family dentistry, all cosmetic dentistry, facial rejuvenation, adult orthodontics and implants.
Nine months ago, the practice also became an official Under Armour Performance Mouthwear provider and encouraged one of its own staff members to be the first to try out the service.
'I've been wearing it ever since then for speed training, hill training – it's part of the running kit now!'
Abigail Sinclair-Lord is the practice manager of Enhance Dental and has worked there since it opened in June 2008.
'We decided to become customised Under Armour Performance Mouthwear providers after our principal Dr Lau Berraondo saw Bite Tech at a dentistry show,' she says.
'He already knew about them because he's a fan of Tottenham Hotspur and they use the performance mouthwear products.
'I think it's a really good idea to bring mouthwear into the practice and offer the service to patients. We've got a private school nearby and they play rugby and other sports. In fact, there's a lot of rugby in general in the area, as well as plenty of sports clubs and these teams hold great potential to develop the product and gain new patients.'
Once Enhance Dental became an authorised provider, the practice received a trial unit. Luckily, the practice's head dental nurse Felicity Chivers is a keen runner and well known in the community.
'Felicity runs a lot of marathons,' says Abigail.
'She's done the London Marathon and most recently completed the Copenhagen Marathon. It made sense to ask her to trial the performance mouthwear for us.'
Felicity has worked at Enhance Dental for the past two years and been running regularly for about eight years.
She says: 'It started off as a way to get fit and then I decided to enter the London Marathon. After that I got the bug! I had needed an aim, a specific goal to keep motivated, rather than just training to lose weight.'
For the first few years of marathon running, Felicity enjoyed the fun aspect of it as well as the fitness.
'When I very first started, I did it for charity. We used to raise money for children with leukaemia. As the years went on, I improved and I qualified as an automatic entry to the marathons, so I no longer needed to do fundraising in order to get a place.'
Felicity continued to improve and then completed a couple of London Marathons in good times, so she decided to try and break the 3.15 in order to qualify as an ‘elite' lady.
'I've been chasing that goal for past five years. The closest I've got is 3.16.35 and that was during the Australian Gold Coast Marathon. I've got so close to my goal. I train hard, I'm strict with myself and I read the relevant literature. I want to get that edge to qualify as an elite, I'll try anything with my training.'
Having never tried performance mouthwear before, Felicity didn't know what to expect.
She says: 'I went for this completely open minded about it but obviously I've got that goal of the 3.15, I was prepared to try anything.'
Now Felicity uses a non-contact mouthpiece during her training and while running marathons.
'I started using the mouthpiece at the beginning of September 2011 and then during a race that was on the following month. I've been wearing it ever since then for speed training, hill training – it's part of the running kit now!'
A non-contact mouthpiece works differently to protective mouthwear. It covers the lower teeth and prevents the teeth from meeting, relaxing the jaw and preventing the release of lactic acid and the stress hormone, cortisol.
'Normally, during 30-35k runs, I'd be clenching my jaw through fatigue,' says Felicity. 'But because I'm unable to clench like that now, I don't get the soreness in my jaw. As for my muscles and recovery the next day, I have noticed a real difference, so I'm going to keep wearing it and see how it goes.”
Less tension in the muscles is not the only benefit Felicity has noticed in her experience. “I do find that when I've got the Under Armour mouthwear in, I focus. During the race in October I was much more focused. I've also noticed the difference when speed training. I get very tense, going as hard as I can and, wearing the mouthpiece, I'm really focused. It definitely helps.'
Felicity trains with a local group of runners and usually talks while she runs, as it's a very social atmosphere. Her fellow runners were convinced that the mouthwear would soon put a stop to that, but, as Felicity says, 'It's really comfortable to wear. In fact, I couldn't really tell I was wearing it. I can take in my gels when running, and I can still talk with it – I do like a chat as we go! You can't see it or anything.”'
Felicity is a good ambassador for the performance mouthwear service for Enhance Dental. 'She's well known in the community,” says Abigail, 'and a good person to have on board with this. She's been in the local newspaper a lot, she's a member of a local athletics club and she's very dedicated to her running. If people are interested they can ask her.'
The practice is using another effective marketing technique to encourage people to try out the mouthwear. 'We've got a special offer where the first ten people to make an order will get it at a discounted rate. Once a few people have tried them out, it'll pick up from there. They'll tell their friends, family, other athletes and work colleagues. We will market the service, but word of mouth is best.'
There are clubs and associations all over the UK catering for all sporting disciplines such as rugby, football, golf and athletics. With the upcoming London Olympics 2012, there has never been a better time to get involved as an Authorised Provider of Under Armour Performance Mouthwear.
'We're planning on getting into sports clubs and generating interest,' says Abigail. 'The products are getting more well known and a lot of famous sportsmen are using them.'
Speaking from an athlete's point of view, Felicity has the last word, saying: 'I'm definitely going to stick with Under Armour Performance Mouthwear for the future, it's part of my training for the next London Marathon. I'd definitely recommend trying it.'
For more information on how your patients can benefit from Under Armour Performance MouthwearTM go to www.bitetech.com, call Nuview on 01453 872266 or email armourbite@nuview-ltd.com.
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