Mouth Guards for Summer Camps & Club Sports: A Parent's Guide
Baseball camp, travel lacrosse, martial arts, skate parks, and pickup basketball at the rec center — summer is when kids are the most active, and the least supervised by a school nurse or trainer. It's also peak season for chipped, cracked, and knocked-out teeth. Here's what actually protects your child's smile this summer, and what doesn't.
Summer Is Prime Time for Dental Injuries — Not Just Fall Sports
When people think "mouth guard," they usually picture football pads in September. But summer carries its own set of risks: unstructured pickup games, day camps with less supervision than a school team, first-time activities like lacrosse or martial arts camps, and kids on bikes, skateboards, and scooters far more often than during the school year.
The American Dental Association recommends mouth guards for 29 different sports and activities — many of which are exactly what fills up a July camp schedule: baseball, basketball, soccer, martial arts, skateboarding, and gymnastics among them.
If your child is heading into fall team tryouts too, our Back-to-School Dental Checklist covers what to book before the school year starts. This guide is about protecting them right now, this summer.
Store-Bought vs. Custom Mouth Guards: What's the Real Difference?
Not all mouth guards protect the same way. Here's how the common options compare:
Stock (Off-the-Shelf)
Pre-formed, one-size-fits-most. Cheapest option but fits loosely, makes talking and breathing harder, and is often left in a bag rather than worn.
Boil-and-Bite
Softened in hot water and bitten into shape at home. Better fit than stock guards, but still bulky, imprecise, and prone to shifting during play.
Custom-Fitted
Molded from an impression of your child's own teeth at our office. Thinner, more comfortable, easier to talk through, and dramatically more likely to actually be worn.
Protection Level
Custom guards distribute impact more evenly across the jaw, reducing risk of concussion as well as broken teeth — a benefit stock guards can't match.
A guard that doesn't get worn provides zero protection, no matter how good it is on paper. In our experience, kids are far more likely to actually wear a custom guard through an entire practice or game because it doesn't interfere with breathing or talking to teammates.
What a Dental Injury Actually Costs — In Time, Money, and Pain
A knocked-out permanent tooth is a true emergency requiring treatment within 30–60 minutes for the best chance of saving it. Even when a tooth is saved, it often means a root canal, a crown, or years of monitoring for a growing child. A custom mouth guard costs a fraction of that — and takes one quick appointment to make.
If a dental injury does happen this summer, call us right away at 919-363-1501. Frontier Dental Center offers same-day emergency appointments Monday through Saturday.
Which Summer Activities Actually Need One?
Parents often assume mouth guards are only for full-contact sports like football or hockey. In practice, plenty of summer activities carry real risk of dental injury from a fall, a stray elbow, or an equipment collision:
- Contact and collision sports: baseball, softball, basketball, soccer, lacrosse, and field hockey — a bat, ball, or another player's elbow can cause serious dental trauma in an instant.
- Martial arts and boxing: sparring at any intensity level warrants a guard, even at beginner camps where control is still being learned.
- Wheeled activities: skateboarding, biking, and scootering at camps or skate parks — falls onto pavement are one of the more common causes of chipped and knocked-out teeth we see in the summer.
- Gymnastics and cheer: falls from apparatus or during stunts carry real risk, especially for kids still building core strength and coordination.
If your child is doing any of the above this summer — even casually, even just at a day camp — a mouth guard is worth the one-time appointment.
Getting a Custom Mouth Guard at Frontier Dental Center
The process is simple: one short appointment to take an impression of your child's teeth, and the finished guard is typically ready within a couple of weeks — plenty of time before camp, travel-team season, or a big tournament. We fit kids and teens of all ages, and guards can be adjusted as permanent teeth continue to come in.
Families from Apex, Cary, Morrisville, Holly Springs, and the surrounding Triangle area visit us on the Williams Street corridor for this exact reason — it's a quick trip, and we can usually work around a busy camp or practice schedule, including Saturday appointments (9 AM – 2 PM).
Book Your Child's Mouth Guard Fitting This Week
Camps and club seasons are already underway — the sooner your child is fitted, the sooner they're actually protected. Call 919-363-1501 or book online, and let's get your athlete covered for the rest of the summer.