The Orb Smartguard is a gum shield with brains

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Close-up of a mouth guard with a microchip

It might sound like a connected codpiece, but the Orb Smartguard is something you actually would want to put in your mouth.

While a smartwatch does the job when you want to track your 5Ks or your crossfit workouts, they’re not designed for contact sports. This smart gob guard is a fitness tracker for your mouth, and while it won’t record how often your tongue wags, it can monitor how much your head gets pummelled, including impact locations and the size and range of forces – perfect for amateur boxers who want to know where they’re vulnerable to jabs.

Even if you’re not a wannabe Rocky, it’s great for any sport where you might get a smack in the mouth. For starters, the EVA plastic will help stop you getting your teeth knocked out by a hockey stick or a hulking great hooker, but it also has an optical heart rate monitor built-in, plus a load of 12-axis 3D motion sensors, including accelerometers, a gyroscope and magnetometer, so you can use it to record all the normal stuff a fitness tracker would. That includes approximate distance, steps, and active calories, with more parameters due to be added further down the line.

A person with strapping on their hands holds a case with a mouth guard inside

A man wearing a mouth guard holds a smartphone

Orb has made its own app to collect all the data, but you don’t need to have your phone in your hand while you’re sparring or tucked down your shorts during a scrum – the Smartguard stores everything onboard and you can sync over Bluetooth when you’re done. It won’t work with Apple Health, Google Fit or any other fitness apps to begin with, but that’s another thing Orb is working on.

Orb completed a successful crowdfunder for the Smartguard recently, trousering £30,000 more than its £15,000 goal, and you can already join the waiting list to buy one for £159. To make sure it fits perfectly, you’ll be sent a moulding kit through the post to take an impression of your teeth, but with the first batch not expected to go out to Kickstarter backers until June 2023, it might be a while before you’ve got one in your mouth.

About

Stuff's second Tom has been writing for the magazine and website since 2006, when smartphones were only for massive nerds and you could say “Alexa” out loud without a robot answering. Over the years he’s written about everything from MP3s to NFTs, played FIFA with Trent Alexander-Arnold, and amassed a really quite impressive collection of USB sticks.