Event
Geelong Design WeekPublisher
Geelong City of DesignLocation
Centre for Advanced Design in Engineering Training - CADET, Deakin UniversityPlace of publication
GeelongStart date
2022-03-18End date
2022-03-27Research statement
This project encapsulates the design, testing and validation of a proof of concept mouthguard that was designed in response to proposed improvements to the current state of available products.
The hypothesis presented by the client partner was that current mouthguards inhibit airflow during breathing, have the effect of drying the mouth and do not provide an adequate comfortable fit to the player during high intensity activities. An end-user survey conducted at the beginning of the study gave some understanding of current mouthguards from the perspective of the players of contact sports. The majority of respondents were satisfied with the comfort of custom fit mouthguards and did not identify that breathing and a dry mouth feeling were an issue. However, the survey did show that a significant majority of respondents have communication problems (eg articulation of words) as a result of mouthguard use. A range of different concepts were prototyped early in the project that focused on two distinct manufacturing processes. Early concepts that focused on vacuum forming modified commercially available laminate sheets resulted in a high failure rate and good not be successfully formed into a useable mouthguard, even by expert dental technicians.
The second process, 3D printing, was allowed a standard solid mouthguard design envelope to be replaced with a complex generated lattice geometry using advanced modelling techniques. Included in this exhibit are progressive iterative design samples of the lattice mouthguard geometry. The first bespoke 3D printed mouthguard for impact sports in the world.Publication classification
JC4 Curated Exhibition or Event – OtherScale
NTRO MediumExtent
6 x PrototypesEditor/Contributor(s)
Callum Vidler, Mariana Paulino, Robert Leen
