Angela Canfield, DDS of Sandfly Family Dental, announces that Robert W. Groves High School and Hancock Day School will be the recipients for the 2015 Canfield Mouth Shield Program. These schools were selected out of the applications received from all over Savannah.

The schools will be scheduling a time for Dr. Canfield and her team to custom fit, mold and examine each player’s mouth guards. A process and savings of approximately $85 per piece. Dr. Canfield will be donating mouth guards in respective team colors to every player of Groves and Hancock free of charge.

Custom-made intact mouth guards provide stability to the players’ jaws and cushion blows that can cause severe dental injuries, like broken teeth, fractured jaws, gum lacerations and injuries to their lips or tongue by their teeth.

“Damaging jaw and tooth impact can be caused by anything from direct contact to a misplaced step while running,” said Dr. Canfield. “I choose to start this program and donate the gear because research shows that wearing custom-fit mouth guards reduces the risk of severe injuries."

The mouth guards for Groves have a one year warranty. The warranty covers the dental expenses incurred by players if they are injured while wearing the mouth guards. The warranty also pays $1,093.75 per injured or replaced tooth and up to a maximum total liability of $35,000 per incident.

The American Dental Association (ADA) estimates that the use of mouth guards prevents approximately 200,000 injuries per year in high school and college football teams alone.

Every year, Dr. Canfield will be selecting an impact sports team to donate mouth guards as part of The Canfield Mouth-Shield Program. Applications for the 2016 Canfield Mouth-Shield Team should be submitted before June 1, 2016 to be considered by the advisory board.