SOUTH DEERFIELD – It’s an annual tradition for many student-athletes and parents: scrambling to buy a mouthguard before the season begins, boiling it and ending up with one that might not fit so well.

Treehouse Orthodontics opted to help students and families this fall season by setting up shop at Frontier Regional School on Tuesday afternoon and scanning athletes’ teeth in order to provide free, custom-fitted mouthguards to promote dental health and athletic safety.

“This time of year, everyone tries to get a mouthguard,” said Dr. Aaron DeMaio, who has offices in Greenfield, Northampton and Amherst. “We wanted to do this as a way to give back.”

The process itself was quite simple. Students signed in at a desk outside the cafeteria before taking a seat at one of two scanning locations, where DeMaio and Dr. Adi Davidyan’s orthodontics team scanned the teeth of each athlete for approximately 30 seconds to a minute before sending that data off to a manufacturing facility. That information will provide each kid with a mouthguard made just for their teeth.

DeMaio, who has children in the Union 38 and Frontier Regional school districts, said finding a mouthguard, especially for kids who have braces, can be difficult and, more importantly, a poor-fitted mouthguard doesn’t protect teeth or brains.

“A bad-fitting mouthguard doesn’t really do much,” he said. “This will be a nice one they can wear that can protect their teeth and prevent concussions.”

Mouthguards, according to the American Dental Association, are an extremely important tool in preventing facial, dental and brain injuries in contact sports, including soccer and football. A study cited by the organization shows the prevalence of dental trauma to mouthguard users is approximately 7.5-percent compared to at least 48-percent for non-users, and mouthguard users were between 82-percent and 93-percent less likely to suffer “dentofacial injuries.”

The event, which DeMaio said was led by office manager Sharon Baranowski, also served as a get-together for families and athletes. There was cornhole, and the orthodontist traded in his tools for a spatula to serve hamburgers.

“My whole team really chipped in,” DeMaio said. “Everyone really got behind it.”

“It’s nice to be able to give back,” Baranowski added.

DeMaio said he is hopeful they will try and do something like this again, with this week’s event serving as a sort of “pilot” run.

As some of his players stood in line, Frontier head football coach Scott Dredge thanked DeMaio and his crew for stopping by the school and providing a great service to the students.

“I’m so grateful to have Dr. DeMaio and his team do this … It’s a great way to give back,” Dredge said, before adding this high-tech mouthguard process “sure beats boiling one.”

Chris Larabee can be reached at clarabee@recorder.com or 413-930-4081.

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