A “smart” mouth guard could show an athlete’s risk of a concussion “immediately after a nasty hit,” said Dean Takahashi at Venture Beat”‹. The mouth guard, designed by Minneapolis-based Prevent Biometrics, can measure the force, direction, and location of a head impact as it happens. If a hit exceeds a certain threshold, the mouth guard sends an alert to team personnel, parents, or others via a mobile app.
Research shows that “players who stay in the game after head trauma take nearly twice as long to recover as athletes who leave the game immediately.” Prevent’s technology was developed in partnership with neuroscientists and engineers at the Cleveland Clinic, which maintains a stake in the company. Prevent Biometrics plans to offer for sale two versions for athletes ages 11 and older in six markets this year, starting at $199, with a nationwide launch in 2018.
