Angela Canfield, DDS of Sandfly Family Dental donated custom-made gold and black mouth guards to the Groves High School football team. Dr. Canfield and four of her staff members took impressions of the football players’ teeth and fit the guards during the Groves football camp.

The impressions will help Dr. Canfield and her staff align the mouth guards with the players’ Temporomandibular Joint to provide maximum impact protection.

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 chose to donate the gear because research shows that wearing custom-fit mouth guards reduces the risk of severe injuries."

The process of custom fitting, molding and examining each player’s mouth guards normally cost $85 a piece. Dr. Canfield is donating 40 custom-fit mouth guards to the Groves High School football team free of charge.

The mouth guards 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.

Dr. Canfield also chose to donate 20 mouth guards to Hancock Day School. However, since the team’s players have a smaller TMJ joint and mouth, the guards were fitted at Dr. Canfield’s office, Sandfly Family Dental. In total, Dr. Canfield donated $5,100 worth of protective gear to student athletes in Savannah, GA.

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 to Dr. Canfield’s office. Applications must be submitted before June 1, 2016 to be considered by the advisory board.