Open wide

Bryce Alderton

Eager men stood under the doorway to the weight room at Newport

Harbor High Friday morning, staring out toward Mike Wells and the

table he set up about 50 yards from the doorway.

Wells, who grew up in Newport Beach and attended Newport Harbor

High, where he was a quarterback who graduated in 1983, took the

pale-pink powder called Alginate, dumped it in a plastic sandwich

back, mixed in a little water and began stirring to form a grainy,

goopy solution the players would squeeze-up into their top row of

teeth.

Yes the area dentist worked quickly to fit the rest of the 35

Newport Harbor varsity football players Friday for custom, laminated

two-piece plastic mouthpieces.

Wells said Newport Harbor Coach Bill Brown, who’s son Bill played

with Wells on Newport Harbor teams of the early ‘80s, approached him

about making new mouthpieces for the team and Wells eagerly accepted.

“I’ve always wanted to make mouthpieces for the team,” Wells said

Friday, as he pulled a wooden table from the back of his silver Dodge

Durango. “This is the first time I’ve done this.”

The mouthpieces Wells will make are Proform mouthpieces, the same

ones professional football players in the NFL use, according to

Wells.

The pieces have two layers of laminated plastic, one semi-hard and

one semi-soft, to absorb the energy from a hit to the head or jaw.

“One (layer) absorbs a wavelength of energy and disperses the

energy rather than (the energy) going into your jaw or your head,”

Wells said. “The kids are digging it.”

As many as 10 players congregated in the doorway of the weight

room, anticipating a coach to call them next to get fitted at the

table Wells had set up.

Players can choose the color of their mouthpiece from either blue,

white, clear or a combination of blue and white. The mouthpieces

Wells makes would cost between $60 and $80 at his office, but he is

performing this service for free.

When asked if they were excited about getting new mouthpieces,

junior defensive end Sam Matlin said, “Yeah, I usually just chew

mine. It tastes like goo, it’s sandy and gritty.”

Newport Harbor Head Football Coach Jeff Brinkley appreciates

Wells’ volunteerism.

“Fortunately Dr. Wells came in here and was willing to do that for

us and give something back to the program,” Brinkley said.

Brinkley enters his 17th season this fall as head coach at Newport

Harbor and has coached for 25 years. He has seen the evolution of

mouthpieces.

“In the old days you would pour in liquid goo into a mold, bite

into that, and it would form the inside of the mouthpiece,” Brinkley

said. “Then you put (mouthpieces) in boiling water to form them.

These new ones are more of a custom-fit. They provide more protection

and are more comfortable for the athlete.”