ANN ARBOR —A seven-member team of dentists from the University of Michigan School of Dentistry will begin fitting players on the University’s football team for customized mouth guards during “Media Day” on August 13.
The dental team will be led by Dr. Dennis Fasbinder, clinical associate professor and director of the Advanced Education in General Dentistry program. Other members of the team are Drs. Ronald Heys, Donald Heys, Richard Fisher, Joseph Kolling, Daniel Ballbach, and Donald Peterson.
“Making the impressions is just one part of the School of Dentistry’s year-round commitment to U-M athletes,” Dr. Fasbinder said. “While this certainly is a high-profile occasion for us, we always work closely with the athletic training staff to address any routine or urgent dental concerns an athlete may have while they are at the University.” That includes treating broken teeth and abscesses, providing routine dental fillings, cleanings, doing endodontic (root canal) and other work.
The team of dentists will take impressions of about 45 players on the 110-member football team, including all freshmen and any player who needed dental work during the past year. Players who did not have any dental work will not have new impressions taken since their dental molds, which are used to make new mouth guards, are maintained by the training staff.
An accurate impression is absolutely vital, Dr. Fasbinder said.
“For the health and well-being of the athlete, the mouth guards must be well-fitted, comfortable, and do the job they were designed to do—protect the player’s jaw and serve as a shock absorber to prevent dental injuries and concussions.”
After the impressions are taken at Schembechler Hall, the dentists work with the athletic training staff to make the molds and customized mouth guards. Players will receive their mouth guards by the first day of practice.
Although mouth guards can be made in virtually any color, NCAA rules and regulations require the mouth guards to be visible to referees. For that reason, U-M dentists usually make yellow mouth guards for the football players, Fasbinder said. “For other sports, we sometimes make clear mouth guards if the player wants a less obvious look.”
A football player typically uses four to six mouth guards each season. The athletic training staff carries several for each player during road trips to ensure one is always available.
“The School of Dentistry is an important part of our ‘team,'” said Paul Schmidt, supervisor of athletic training for the U-M. “The dentists who work with us and the athletes have repeatedly gone the extra mile, whether in football or other sports, to provide a very crucial service that may not be apparent to fans, but helps prevent injuries to players.”
Dr. Fasbinder emphasized that the School of Dentistry serves not just the football team but all University athletes. “This includes participants in the men’s basketball and ice hockey programs and women’s basketball, field hockey, softball and other teams,” he said.
Impressions for players on the men’s basketball and ice hockey teams will be taken in The U-M School of Dentistry is one of the nation’s leading dental schools engaged in oral health care education, research, and patient care. General dental care clinics and specialty clinics providing advanced treatment enable the School to offer dental services and programs to patients throughout southeast Michigan and the state. Classroom and clinic instruction trains future dentists, dental specialists, and dental hygienists for practice in private offices, hospitals, academia, and public agencies. Research seeks to discover and apply new knowledge that can help patients worldwide. More information on the school is available on the Web at http://www.dent.umich.edu.
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School of Dentistryhttp://www.dent.umich.edu