24 September 2025

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Dental school’s free mouthguard clinic draws young athletes from around southeast Michigan

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It’s not easy being 9 years old and sitting still for three minutes in a dental chair with a mouth full of mushy material, but that’s what Makai Carter and about 60 other area athletes did early this month to protect their teeth.

The University of Michigan School of Dentistry hosted a free mouthguard clinic that drew athletes from ages 6 to 25 to the school’s clinics to have professional-grade mouthguards made for each person’s unique dentition and mouth structure. The custom-made mouthguards fit better and provide more protection than store-bought mouthguards prepared at home.

The community service event was organized by the school’s Academy for Sports Dentistry club as part of a series of events tied to a year-long celebration of the 150th anniversary of the school’s founding in 1875. The free mouthguard clinic was an annual tradition for many years before it was interrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. The modern sports mouthguard originated at the School of Dentistry in the 1950s and was perfected over the decades as the device gained widespread usage by athletes around the world.

The return of the free clinic this year was well-received by parents, with some already wanting to sign up for next year, said Blake Maddalena, a fourth-year dental student who is president of the club. He noted one mother who brought a child to the event mentioned that she had come to the clinic as a child and it was fitting that her child could now benefit from it as well.

Maddalena said the custom mouthguards not only protect teeth, but also help prevent concussions from impact to the jaw and head. “From the concussion research I was involved in during my four undergraduate years at MSU, as well as being a former hockey player, I recognize the important role a custom mouthguard can play with concussion prevention,” he said. “One goal of the  club is to increase awareness through this event for young athletes.”

For Makai, the customized process took a couple of attempts before the mushy material, called alginate, hardened into an impression of his upper teeth and mouth. The material needs to remain in the mouth for from 2 to 4 minutes so that it begins to harden. The impression was then carefully removed by Sejal Gandhi, a third-year dental student making the mouthguard for Makai.

The next step is filling the impression with a soft substance called “dental stone” that hardens into a stone-like model of the patient’s teeth and mouth. The model is placed in a counter-top machine that uses heat to soften a piece of vinyl material as vacuum pressure pulls the vinyl down tightly over the model to make a mouthguard that exactly fits the patient’s unique set of teeth and upper mouth. The vinyl is cooled, excess is trimmed, edges are smoothed and the athlete has a form-fitting mouthguard that protects teeth from the jolts and collisions in sports like football, hockey, lacrosse, field hockey and many other sports.

Makai’s 11-year-old brother Nehemiah Payton was in the adjacent dental chair having his own personalized mouthguard made at the same time. Their mom, Dana Payton-Lock of Belleville brought her sons to the clinic because they play youth football for the Van Buren Tigers. Elsewhere around the clinic, sixty other athletes from a variety of sports completed the process led by about 30 dental students supervised by faculty.

Dr. Romesh Nalliah, a clinical professor of dentistry and Associate Dean for Patient Services, said custom mouthguards are vital in protecting young athletes from oral injuries. “Mouthguards are essential equipment – just  like a helmet – when it comes to preventing sports-related trauma,” he said. “The custom-fit mouthguards we’re providing today offer superior protection, comfort and durability compared to store-bought options, which can be ill-fitting and less effective. Our event reflects the long-standing commitment of the U-M School of Dentistry to advancing oral health and keeping athletes safe.”

Source: https://dent.umich.edu/