Causey Orthodontics of Cumming opened their doors early Saturday morning to provide free custom-made mouth guards for all 74 members of the Dawson County Tigers football team.

“When we first opened our office in Blairsville this is something we did for Union County,” said Orthodontic Assistant Bonnie Geer.

Using a digital camera mounted on the end of a wand, Geer took between 500 and 700 pictures that are then blended into a single image by the computer to create an extremely detailed picture of the structure of an individual’s teeth. This image is then forwarded to Specialty Orthodontics Appliances, also of Cumming, where it is cast into a three-dimensional plastic model.

 “The system stores the images digitally,” said Orthodontist Mark Causey. “They can be pulled up and used again in the future for another mouthguard or different work.”

Once the model has been cast, a mouth guard is formed over the mold to create a customized, perfectly fitting mouthpiece that will feature the Dawson County High School team logo.