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Pure Power Mouthguard

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Oct 2, 2009
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PPM take a look at the web site and then make your judgemet >www.makkaradvantage.com

I have been reviewing the comments and would hope that a couple of the people who have been making judgements visit the web site >http://www.makkaradvantage.com and learn a little more about the PPM .

Just to clarify a few things .
For non contact sports the guard is placed on the lower jaw only .When in place it aligns the body ( back ,spine ,hips etc ) .This guard has been developed based on the science of neuromuscular dentistry .This is confirmed science and not hodge podge !

Before using the guard,the problem that I had based on the issues with my lower back was that the muscles on the left and right side of my body were working against each other while I was cycling to keep my posture straight .As such I was not using my muscles efficiently (again based on correct science).

When the guard is placed on my lower jaw (only on the bottom teeth ,and only on the sides not the front teeth-look at the web site ) it aligns my spine ,posture etc and as a result my muscles are not fighting against each other ,they are now working together efficiently to improve my performance .

As a result of the above what you find is that all of your muscles are firing together and you are functioning in union .As a result of this you are allowing your body to train more relaxed ,at a higher effort and as such while training at a higher effort you are improving faster .

The PPM itself is only aligning your body .By doing this you are reaping the benefits of correct alignment .(increased power ,strength ,balance etc)

For the record -As the guard is not on your front teeth (only the lower sides ) you can breath with your mouth closed (because your front teeth do not touch).You can talk easily .You can drink water etc .As it is customed made it fits snug and it does not move, and will not and cannot fall out .It is actually very comfortable .

Also please note that the guards range in price from $595 ,$1250 & $2000. The cost is based on the process by which the neuromuscular dentist acquires your bite and the equipment which is used to get your ideal bite.To get the professional guard at $2000 it takes app 2 hours to do the process ,then the guard needs to be manufactured in an approved lab ,and then it needs to be fit and tested by the neuromuscular dentist .

By no means inexpensive but to be honest I have been training as mentioned with mine for 4 weeks and my improvements have been really worth it .

Again take the opportunity to visit the web site >http://www.makkaradvantage.com and look at the product ,the science behind the product and look at the testimonials .

Professional from the PGA ,NFL ,NBA ,and many other sports are using the product .Many trainers are recommending that their athletes use this product. Look at the testimonials by the amatures and see their improvements .

From my understanding a number of professional and amateur athletes along with the weekend warriors in many sports are getting fit each week ,you will read big things about this product .

Just do the research ....http://www.makkaradvantage.com:
scotfab
 
Aug 3, 2009
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A placebo at best, I'm not surprised that Shaq fell for it, but sometimes facial placebos and gimmicks do work. Look at how some dogs behave better when they have a restraint on their heads; maybe it helps focus also. At worst, a breathing inhibitor.

And the hassle of taking it out and putting it back in while you are eating, or even drinking. Or what if you dropped it while taking it out of your jersey and the peleton ran over it. Would you really want to go back for it? Maybe if you paid $200 for it. A lightweight baseball one might provide the same benefits, if there are any benifits.

I just don't see a place for it in the sport of cycling, except for maybe some of the gravity events, if you weren't wearing a full-face helmet.

Also another source of germs, in an already bacteria-ridden sport.
 
Sep 30, 2009
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runninboy said:
funny how most of the posters who take this issue seriously have just a handful of posts between all of them, and the people making fun of this issue have hundreds of posts,hmmmmmmm

Maybe the people with hundreds of posts should read a little more, learn a few things, and open their minds a little more instead of just throwing all of their time and energy at flaming newbs. At least they're contributing with some content to the threads.

I agree that some of these threads come off as blatant ads. Others are personal experience. Most are rumour and speculation. Some of the information here is useful to certain forum members. If you can't use it, and have nothing to contribute with any substance, then there are a ton of other threads which could use your expertise.

And I'm not throwing this at you personally runninboy. Your quote just summed up an attitude on these forums that comes through all to often from many veteran posters.
 
DomFab1 said:
Is anyone aware of any professional cyslists wearing the Pure Power Mouthguard, which is being worn by an increasing number of sports people, especially in the US?

See attached URL

http://www.makkaradvantage.com

This device is currently being touted in Trinidad amongst the cycling fraternity and many people are buying them, even though they are retailing at US$2000.00 each.

Otherwise, is anyone using the device and getting the benefits that it purports to offer?

Jo Lawn, winner of a few NewZeland Iron-mans and now at Kona has a doctor made one and she says it makes a HUGE difference...YMMV-
 
Mar 12, 2009
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Ad or no ad. The claims being made are utter nonsense. No mouth-gaurd is going to align your spine or do any of the other things being claimed. Confusing correlation and causation is the least of the problems here. Personal claims do not amount to a hill of magic beans until validated by a controlled scientific study. Placebo and delusion at best. Total snake oil salesmanship at worst. My BS detector is well past the red line. Yea folks open your mind and do web "research". These pleas to be open minded are pleas to not be skeptical and to ignore the lack of proof in favour of wild claims. Open your mind so wide that you brain falls out is what they want.

Last month my astrologist told me that I would be skeptical about a wild claim of nonsense at some date in the future. He was right!!!! Proof for astrology, no?
 
Sep 30, 2009
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Black Dog said:
Ad or no ad. The claims being made are utter nonsense. No mouth-gaurd is going to align your spine or do any of the other things being claimed. Confusing correlation and causation is the least of the problems here. Personal claims do not amount to a hill of magic beans until validated by a controlled scientific study. Placebo and delusion at best. Total snake oil salesmanship at worst. My BS detector is well past the red line. Yea folks open your mind and do web "research". These pleas to be open minded are pleas to not be skeptical and to ignore the lack of proof in favour of wild claims. Open your mind so wide that you brain falls out is what they want.

Last month my astrologist told me that I would be skeptical about a wild claim of nonsense at some date in the future. He was right!!!! Proof for astrology, no?

Here's the research I was talking about. These claims have all been validated by a controlled scientific study. Some relate to cycling, some do not.

I never claimed it helped my endurance performance, but it helped my track performance (not the PPM, although I had something similar made years back because I wanted to try it and had the means to readily be able to.)

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...nel.Pubmed_DefaultReportPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum

And there are plenty others. SO go do your reading and research and then tell people it's hogwash and BS because your opinion is just that, an opinion
 
May 12, 2009
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Maybe you should read the summaries of the articles you linked to. Most of them have no relevance to cycling.
Unlike American football or rugby players, cyclists don't normally wear mouthguards. So the fact that some mouthguards don't degrade performance too much is irrelevant to a cyclist.
Similarly a study of single movement power in weightlifting or golf swings has pretty little relevance to performance in an aerobic sport like cycling.
And we're supposed to think that Shaq shooting free throws slightly better than crappy would matter to us either?

Go away spammer.
 
Sep 30, 2009
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slcbiker said:
Maybe you should read the summaries of the articles you linked to. Most of them have no relevance to cycling.
Unlike American football or rugby players, cyclists don't normally wear mouthguards. So the fact that some mouthguards don't degrade performance too much is irrelevant to a cyclist.
Similarly a study of single movement power in weightlifting or golf swings has pretty little relevance to performance in an aerobic sport like cycling.
And we're supposed to think that Shaq shooting free throws slightly better than crappy would matter to us either?

Go away spammer.

Yeah, I read them, hence me saying that some are applicable and some are not. If you read them, instead of just skimming over the first few sentences, you would have seen why I had linked them. The articles that touched upon respiratory volumes and efforts show that there was no detriment to wearing a mouthgaurd. This test was done on a CYCLE ergometer. So if you're concerned that this will hold you back aerobically, it won't. If it can provide a muscular benefit at the same time, then you have nothing to lose.

If you read my initial post at the beginning of the thread, I wasn't the one trying to sell this thing, and I'm still not, so don't call me a spammer. In fact, I was critical of the expense of the product. I just chimed in about how I had used something similar because it was cheap and redialy available, and it worked for me in certain aspects of cycling. I mentioned that for some people it might bring them some benefit. Learn to comprehend what your eyes are taking in.
 
Mar 12, 2009
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twothirds said:
Yeah, I read them, hence me saying that some are applicable and some are not. If you read them, instead of just skimming over the first few sentences, you would have seen why I had linked them. The articles that touched upon respiratory volumes and efforts show that there was no detriment to wearing a mouthgaurd. This test was done on a CYCLE ergometer. So if you're concerned that this will hold you back aerobically, it won't. If it can provide a muscular benefit at the same time, then you have nothing to lose.

If you read my initial post at the beginning of the thread, I wasn't the one trying to sell this thing, and I'm still not, so don't call me a spammer. In fact, I was critical of the expense of the product. I just chimed in about how I had used something similar because it was cheap and redialy available, and it worked for me in certain aspects of cycling. I mentioned that for some people it might bring them some benefit. Learn to comprehend what your eyes are taking in.

Well a lack of detrimental effect is NOT a positive effect. Please explain the mechanism for enhanced muscular benefit from an oral device. Are you certain that your perceived benefit is not from the placebo effect? People claim that they are much faster because of some new bit equipment even though the laws of physics do not allow for it. Read any thread on lighter gear where people say they are 5% faster due to a .25% decrease in total bike/rider mass.

Self perception is the weakest form of the weakest class of evidence: Anecdotal. I never trust my own perceptions because like EVERYONE else I am subject to observational and conformational bias and a whole constellation of evolutionary neurological and physiological limitations on accurate perception and analysis. This is why science is good, it tosses our perceptions in the trash and relies on repeatable experimental data.

NO offence meant towards you TWOTHIRDS. You can not state with any certainty that your perceived improvements are a result of the appliance and not simple placebo. Feeling faster or actually going faster does not constitute positive proof of a real effect unless all other possible factors are controlled for. However if self delusion makes you faster on the bike then that is your edge and you should use it to your advantage.

By the way, I read the abstracts and they are very far from a solid positive consensus on the matter.
 
Mar 13, 2009
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Since I first read this thread I have taken note of my jaw position while riding. Maybe I'm different to some, but when I'm going all out my mouth is open and my jaw is in a relaxed position. In fact so much so anything in my mouth would probably fall out.
Most cyclists (pro's incuded) seem to adopt this mouth open jaw relaxed attitude on the bike. The only time your jaw gets clenched is in a sprint or attack and then it's only for a very short time, certainly not long enough for it to align your spine or whatever magic things this mouthguard promises to do.
A sample size of one never validates the usefulness of a product. At the very most it means it works for you, at the least, you THINK it works for you.

I can say with certainty though that spending the $2000 on a power meter will see better results when used properly.
 
Sep 30, 2009
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Black Dog said:
Well a lack of detrimental effect is NOT a positive effect. Please explain the mechanism for enhanced muscular benefit from an oral device. Are you certain that your perceived benefit is not from the placebo effect? People claim that they are much faster because of some new bit equipment even though the laws of physics do not allow for it. Read any thread on lighter gear where people say they are 5% faster due to a .25% decrease in total bike/rider mass.

The only reason I brought up that it was not detrimental to cycling performance, was that the only negative aspect of a mouthgaurd that people were able to argue was that it would restrict breathing. This was shown to be not true. Just arguing points brought up in the discussion. If it has a placebo effect, then it's a placebo. It if works, yet you can't tie it to the reasoning someone is providing for it, then guess what, it still works.

If you want an explanation for how this concept works, I might have an idea of how it works.I can give you an educated guess, but I can't tell you for sure how it works. I'm not a dentist, my background is cardiac and paramedical. Why do ****ty insole/shoes give people back and neck pain. What do the soles of your feet have to do with your back? (that was sarcasm)

Black Dog said:
Self perception is the weakest form of the weakest class of evidence: Anecdotal. I never trust my own perceptions because like EVERYONE else I am subject to observational and conformational bias and a whole constellation of evolutionary neurological and physiological limitations on accurate perception and analysis. This is why science is good, it tosses our perceptions in the trash and relies on repeatable experimental data.

NO offence meant towards you TWOTHIRDS. You can not state with any certainty that your perceived improvements are a result of the appliance and not simple placebo. Feeling faster or actually going faster does not constitute positive proof of a real effect unless all other possible factors are controlled for. However if self delusion makes you faster on the bike then that is your edge and you should use it to your advantage.

I agree with you. I'd trust the science over anyone's word any day. But for my own purposes, I wanted to see if my MG would help my cycling performances the same way it helped my weightroom performances. Took my track bike with a power tap to the computrainer and did some tests for myself. I had consistent improvements in all my tests up to 1k with my MG in place. WIthout the MG, they were consistent with the numbers I had bee putting up a week before. I had my coach with me, and I didn't look at any of the numbers till all the tests were done. I know it's not a clinical lab setting, but for me it's good enough. All I was looking for was to see if I had improvements with this thing in my mouth or not. If it was a placebo, then no skin off my back. If it wasn't working the way it was supposed to, oh well, it cost me all of 20 bucks to make and I was faster.

Advancedone said:
Since I first read this thread I have taken note of my jaw position while riding. Maybe I'm different to some, but when I'm going all out my mouth is open and my jaw is in a relaxed position. In fact so much so anything in my mouth would probably fall out.
Most cyclists (pro's incuded) seem to adopt this mouth open jaw relaxed attitude on the bike. The only time your jaw gets clenched is in a sprint or attack and then it's only for a very short time, certainly not long enough for it to align your spine or whatever magic things this mouthguard promises to do.
A sample size of one never validates the usefulness of a product. At the very most it means it works for you, at the least, you THINK it works for you.

I can say with certainty though that spending the $2000 on a power meter will see better results when used properly.

Agreed on all points. I found the MG annoying riding anything over 1k. After that I think most people's mouths are pretty much open. I also never claimed that everyone should try it because it would work for everyone. I just told people that it worked for me and showed that there is some research backing up the concept. It might have some cycling applications, namely track sprinting, if people want to try it, but I don't think most people will benefit from it. And at 2G's, I wouldn't buy one, said so before. And I already have a PT and a Computrainer. Might trade in the PT for the MetriGear when it comes out tho.
 
Jul 14, 2009
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The US Federal Trade Commission is trying to enact a law tha will make it a crime if a blogger receives product,cash or services in exchange for blogging about a product. I have been racing for some time and even at my highest point I had trouble trowing away a rain jacket or vest, they cost about 100 bucks, Arm warmers,glasses,gloves all pretty expensive little items that when they won't fit in your jersey you just chuck them on the ground and race on. If this super pricey mouth guard falls out or a chunk of powerbar has to get pulled off while racing what happens if it falls to the ground? No matter who you are you are not riding away from a 1500 dollar anything! You crash in a sprint and look over to see only your wheel is taco'd, break your mouth guard some guys bikes don't even cost this much. I guess you could put a mini version of a surfboard leash on it so it can't fall out of your mouth. I was working with a woman who after 2 years on the bike can do a sub 1hr 40k TT, she saw some plastic tube that costs 95 dollars, I think it's called Lung Trainer, If you have to put some plastic in your mouth I would start at 95 vs 2 grand.1 website has a full Ultegra bike w decent wheels and carbon stay for less than a mouth guard,what a value! They would probably rub snake oil on it if you ask nice.
 
Mar 11, 2009
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For track sprinting, maybe. For downhill mountain bike racing or four-cross, it would probably be acceptable as well. But still, I can't believe the cost. A mouth guard should be like $50 or something, not $2000+

Good luck to the company, though. I'm sure you'll get people that are desperate for the slightest advantage (whether real or made up) that will buy the things. Probably the same person that will also pay $6000 for those new Reynold's RAZR carbon wheels.