On 1/22/09, an article on the website for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was posted with the title, Concussions and the Mouth Guard Myth . The article discusses a “surprising assertion” by Dr. Robet Cantu, a neurosurgeon from Emerson Hospital in Concord, Massachusetts. The “surprising assertion” was that mouthguards do not prevent concussions in hockey. The assertion was made at the London Hockey Concussion Summit, where some of America’s leading authorities on concussion were present.

The fact that Dr. Cantu’s statement was described as a surprising assertion highlights the need for why MTBIFacts.com was created. As I have thoroughly documented in the article entitled, The Mouthguard Myth, Dr. Cantu’s assertion is correct but it is hardly surprising. In fact, the belief that mouthguards reduce concussions was described as “neuromythology” in 2001 by McCrory. As the article on MTBIFacts.com demonstrates, the widespread belief that mouthguards reduce concussions is due to some researchers making misleading statements, sloppily citing secondary sources without examining the primary sources, and sometimes citing sources which state nothing about concussions. As the article on MTBIFacts.com demonstrates, the belief also dates back to two studies from the 1960’s, one of which involved a cadaver and the other of which involved one living person.

Lest some readers be confused, when Dr. Cantu is quoted as saying "No study that mouth guards prevent concussions has been done," this does not mean that studies to address the issue have not been conducted. They have been conducted and are described in the MTBIFacts.com article listed above. The results, however, have not shown that mouthguards have a preventative effect, which may be what Dr. Cantu meant.

In the CBC article, it was noted that Toronto Maple Leafs coach, Ron Wilson, stated, “We're trying to get all our players to wear mouth guards. If you get hit and you're wearing a proper mouth guard, it lessens the chance of a concussion." The Toronto Maple Leafs organization was contacted on 2/3/09 regarding this comment with a link to the article on this site discussing what the data actually shows. An update will follow if a response is provided.