Dexter Family Dentistry Offers Free Mouth Guard Clinic for Community Athletes

Student athletes and their families will have a little less to worry about this fall thanks to Dr. Brent Kolb and the rest of the staff at Dexter Family Dentistry.

On Tuesday afternoon, Kolb offered free mouth guards and the necessary fittings to all student athletes of Dexter Community Schools who made it to his practice on Main Street.

After establishing his dental practice in Dexter in 2007, Kolb said the idea to offer free mouth guards to local athletes soon came to him.

“When I was a resident at the University of Michigan, we did mouth guards for the U.S.A. hockey team and for a lot of the Michigan sports teams, so I learned there how to do mouth guards in a mass production,” he said with a laugh, “and that’s where the idea came from and I decided to the same thing here.”

Kolb said he and colleagues usually provide between 80 and 100 mouth guards to students per year, dividing the offering between seasons.

“We’ll do this in probably two days,” he said,” one big day like this and another day in the fall, but before football season is a popular time.”

The procedure required for fitting a mouth guard can vary, according to Kolb, and is in transition.

“There are a couple of different techniques,” he said. “One is, I guess, the traditional method that I learned at Michigan where you take an impression of the athlete’s teeth and then actually make a stone model from that impression and then shape the mouth guard on there with a vacuum forming machine.”

While time tested, Kolb said a more modern and provably effective way of molding mouth guards is taking precedence, called the direct method.

“It’s a little newer, where we take a mouth guard called a Protech and can heat it up in boiling water and shape it directly onto their teeth,” he said, “and so it eliminates the impression step and the mouth guard still fits really well so that we have tight adaptation. It would be similar to the ‘boil and bite’ you would get at the drug store, except a lot better fit.”

Offering quality, professionally-fit mouth guards free to village athletes is well worth it, according to Kolb, who sees the endeavor as a preventative measure. In fact, he said he has even offered the guards at no cost outside of the mass giveaway dates.

“That’s the goal, to prevent any trauma,” he said. “You know a lot of our own patients, any adult or child who’s doing any kind of sports, we will fit them with a mouth guard if they want it, but I definitely recommend it because it definitely prevents injuries."

Helping students out in this way is extremely rewarding, according to Kolb and his colleagues.

“I believe it’s a good way to give back to the community and be involved with the sports and athletics in the community,” Kolb said, “and we enjoy doing it and seeing the athletes.”

Patient Relations staff member Sandy Goosby is the first person people encounter when entering Dexter Family Dentistry, and she said it’s a lot better seeing the smiles come through the door intact.

“It’s easier to supply this (service) than have to fix someone’s tooth,” she said.

Parent Jen Drenner brought her son, Clayton, for a fitting so he has the device for football season. She said she also likes the fact that her son’s mouth guard was being made by a professional.

“Well, I figured the dentist would know what they were doing better than I would in the kitchen, trying to boil it,” she said. “I really appreciate the time and effort and putting up with the whole football team coming through right at once after practice.”

After working in the village for five years, Kolb said the appreciation is mutual, as he has become quite fond of the community that also supports his livelihood.

“I really just like the community,” he said. “I’m from a small town in Ohio called St. Clairsville, and Dexter reminds me a lot of where I grew up.”

Dexter Family Dentistry is located at 8031 Main St. Suite 303. For more information visit www.dexterdentistry.com or call 734-426-9000.