Force Impact Technologies or known as FIT has developed a new smart mouthguard that will detect possible head-related injuries in sports. While wearing a mouthpiece in various contact sports was helpful in the past, FIT has invented a more improved tool to help athletes worldwide. The idea sprung from one of its founders when he encountered a health-threatening head injury in one of his sports events.

The FITguard is a new sports mouthpiece equipment that has sensitive motion sensors that detects serious head concussions sustained in the event of a strong head impact. The mouthguard has built-in motion sensors and an illuminated green LED strip on the front that turns blue when it senses a medium force impact, and red when there's more than 50 percent chance the user received a health-threatening concussion, according to FITguard's official Web site.

The FITguard was created and developed by Anthony Gonzales and his friend from Arizona State University, Bob Merriman. Gonzales was a former college Rugby player who experienced a strong head impact during a game in 2011. The collision that involved multiple players caused Gonzales to forget what happened to him in that game. Later on, a teammate who has an EMT background prevented Gonzales from continuing to play because he noticed that Gonzales showed signs of sustaining a serious head concussion. It was one of the reasons Gonzales started the development of the FITguard.

The new mouthguard comes with a smartphone app that will display more information regarding the colour of the mouthpiece during usage. The details will also be sent to FIT's database to help the team do more studies and research for the device.

The FITguard project has already received thousands of dollars for its funding, enabling its developers to produce several prototypes. FIT plans on developing the device further to help in the treatment and early detection of head injuries for athletes, sustained in sports activities.

The FITguard is not yet available on the market, and its release is still uncertain. FIT is still waiting to receive more funding to make the FITguard project available for sale.

CREDIT: Anthony Gonzales/YouTube