From the moment you place an order to the moment a finished guard arrives at your door is 14–21 days. Most of that time is shipping and impression-return; the manufacturing itself runs 5–10 business days. Here is what happens at each stage, why we pressure-laminate instead of 3D-print, and how every guard is QC'd before it leaves the lab.
The 14–21 day overview
The pipeline is intentionally simple: order → kit out → impression at home → kit back → manufacture → QC → ship. Each step has a defined window, and we communicate progress at every transition.
Step 1 — Order and design (5 minutes)
You order on gumgear.com/sport, /scuba, or /party and design your guard in the 3D customiser: base colours, layered finishes, custom text (name, gym, slogan), uploaded artwork. The design is rendered live on a 3D model so what you see is what you get.
Payment is via Stripe — all major cards plus Apple Pay and Google Pay. Guest checkout is supported; you can create an account afterwards to track the order and save designs for future guards.
Step 2 — Kit ships to you (1–3 days)
Within 48 hours of ordering, an impression kit ships from our US fulfilment partner. The kit contains: two impression trays (primary + backup), the impression material (two-part putty or alginate, depending on stock), a printed instruction card, and a prepaid return envelope. Tracked shipping, normally arrives in 1–3 business days.
Step 3 — At-home impression (5–10 minutes)
You take the impression yourself, in front of a bathroom mirror, in 5–10 minutes. Full step-by-step in how to take a dental impression at home. The key points: mix the material, load the tray, seat it firmly, hold still for 3–5 minutes, remove and inspect every tooth. The backup tray is included specifically for retakes — nobody nails it every time, and that is expected.
Step 4 — Prepaid return shipping (1–4 days)
Drop the sealed return envelope at any USPS collection point. The prepaid label is on it; no postage to buy. Most impressions reach our intake within 2–4 business days from drop-off, depending on your location. We receive impressions Monday through Friday and log every one into the order tracking system.
Step 5 — Digital scan and QC (1 day)
Every impression that arrives is inspected by a technician for tooth coverage, depth, and distortion. If it passes, it is digitally scanned at high resolution to create a 3D model of your bite. The scan is the master file used downstream and is archived so any future guard you order skips the impression step entirely — we already have your scan on file.
If the impression fails QC, we email you the same day with a photo of what is wrong and ship a replacement kit. No charge.
Step 6 — Pressure lamination (2–4 days)
We cast a physical positive from your digital scan and use it as a forming buck. Multiple layers of medical-grade EVA are heated and pressure-laminated over the buck under industrial vacuum — this is the same process every reputable dental lab uses to fabricate sports guards. Combat Guard ($169) gets additional layers and additional thickness over the anterior and molar regions compared to Contact Guard ($99).
Layer count, layer thickness, and lamination pressure are the three variables that produce the protection difference between the tiers — and those are the variables you cannot reproduce in a boil-and-bite. Comparison breakdown in boil-and-bite vs custom mouthguard.
Step 7 — Trim, polish, and design application (1–2 days)
The laminated blank is trimmed to the finished gum-line on a CNC carving stage, then hand-finished and polished. Your design — the colours, text, and artwork you set in the customiser — is applied at this stage using sublimation onto the outer layer so the design is sealed under the final clear coat and does not wear off with use.
Step 8 — Final QC and ship (1–3 days)
Every finished guard is QC'd against the original digital scan for fit accuracy, layer integrity, and visual finish. Pass means the guard is cleaned, sealed into a ventilated case, and shipped with tracked courier. Fail means the guard is remade — you do not pay for that, and you are not even notified unless the remake affects timing.
Why not 3D-printed?
We get asked this regularly. 3D-printed mouthguards exist — SLA and DLP resin prints, FDM PLA prints, and a handful of nylon SLS prints. None of them currently match the impact-absorption characteristics of pressure-laminated EVA, and the resin printing systems that come closest use materials that are not stable for long-term oral contact.
Pressure-laminated EVA has decades of athletic-protection literature behind it and is what every major sanctioning body treats as the reference material for sports guards. We make the manufacturing process digital where it helps (scan, modelling, trim path) and use the proven physical process where it matters (lamination, finish).
Fit guarantee
If your guard arrives and does not fit correctly, contact us within 30 days. We will work with you to identify what happened — usually it is something visible on the scan we can address without a new impression — and remake the guard at no charge if needed. The fit guarantee is the reason we run QC against the original scan: most fit issues are caught before the guard ships, and the rest are resolved without argument.
Ready to start? Order at /sport, /scuba, or /party. Or read the buying-side decisions in the complete custom mouthguard guide.
