In a League of Flying Elbows, the Use of Mouth Guards Has Soared

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By joining the growing faction of N.B.A. players who choose to wear a mouth guard in games, a player is forced to confront a certain small issue: Where do you keep the thing when you’re on the bench?

Mason Plumlee of the Nets tucks his mouthpiece inside one of his socks, which he acknowledged is “not the most sanitary place in the world.” Rajon Rondo of the Dallas Mavericks has been observed spitting his straight down through the collar of his jersey — though where it lands, exactly, has remained something of a mystery. Cole Aldrich of the Knicks often takes the curved, wet plastic and hooks it around one of his ears.

“Some guys put it in their spandex, and some guys put it in their sock, but I think that’s gross,” said Aldrich, who looked surprised when it was suggested that some might consider his method comparably disgusting. “I shampoo my hair every every day, so I think my head is pretty clean.”

Such concerns barely existed a generation ago, when the mention of mouth guards mostly evoked images of football players. Players who used them in the N.B.A. were few and far between. But during the past decade, the mouth guards have undergone sleek design improvements, and research during that time has increasingly shown that the benefits of wearing one may go beyond simply shielding one’s teeth.