Viggy Parr ’11 Places Second at Southeast Mich. Science Fair

Over the weekend senior Viggy Parr placed second overall at the Southeast Michigan Regional Science Fair, earning her a trip to the International Science and Engineering Fair in L.A., May 8-13.

“This a huge achievement,” says physics teacher Deano Smith. “Not only will this be a phenomenal experience for Viggy but will also greatly energize our already-strong science program.”

Parr’s winning project studied the germ level on two different types of mouth guards – traditional bulky mouth guards that players have to repeatedly take out of their mouths to talk and/or drink, and a thinner type of mouth guard that doesn’t have to be removed to drink or talk.

“I wanted to test…if my theory was true: athletes get exposed to many pathogens (disease-causing germs) through the use of mouth guards. Would switching to a mouth guard that didn’t need to be popped in and out of the mouth to drink or talk eliminate the problem?”

Her bacterial analysis from mouth guards used by lacrosse and field hockey teams showed conventional mouth guards did indeed end up with all kinds of disease-carrying pathogens on them, while the thinner mouth guards had no pathogens at all.