Practice News & Community
7 min read · By Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS · Updated August 2026
Dropped off at our front desk. We are keeping it.
Quick answer
Tribute Family Dentistry is a 2026-27 sponsor of the Wakeland Football Boosters. Elate Orthodontics, our sister practice, is sponsoring as well. Wakeland opens at home against Richland on Thursday, August 27, in what the boosters are calling the program’s 20th anniversary season and the school’s first year in UIL 6A. Our office is on FM 423 at Lebanon, a few miles from campus. Call (469) 598-1021.
On this page
What we signed up for
A patient dropped a card off at the front desk recently. Handwritten, addressed to me and Dr. Kang, thanking us for the sponsorship and looking forward to a good season. Someone sat down with a pen for that.
The news underneath it: the Wakeland Football Boosters opened sponsorships for the 2026-27 season this summer, and Tribute Family Dentistry is on the list. So is Elate Orthodontics, the orthodontic side of what my wife and I do, a few minutes up the road.
There was not much deliberating. We treat Wakeland families. Some of the people who work with the team are patients of ours too. When a program you already see in the office asks for help, you help.
I will be honest about how these things get sold to a business. The pitch is visibility. Your logo on a banner, your name in the fall program, a mention on the boosters’ Instagram. That part is real and it is fine. It is also not the reason most local businesses write the check, and it was not ours. High school football costs more than a school district budget covers. Equipment gets reconditioned. Film and training tools get paid for. Kids whose families cannot cover team fees get covered anyway. That is what the money actually does, and the banner is a byproduct.
If you own a business anywhere near this attendance zone, the boosters’ sponsorship page lists everything from a fifty dollar fan level up. It is not a big ask at the bottom of the range.
Twenty years, and a first for Frisco ISD
Wakeland opened in August 2006 at 10700 Legacy Drive. So the boosters are right to call this the twentieth season, and it lands at a strange time to be celebrating continuity, because almost nothing about this schedule resembles the last nineteen.
In February the UIL moved Wakeland up to 6A. The school counted 2,245 students in October, past the 2,215 cutoff, which made it Frisco ISD’s first 6A high school. District 5-6A is Denton Braswell, Denton Guyer, Lewisville, Flower Mound, Hebron, Marcus, and Little Elm. Those are large schools with long football histories. Nobody in that district is a warm-up.
District play starts September 24 at Guyer. The first three games are non-district.
| Date | Opponent | Where |
|---|---|---|
| Aug 27 | Richland | Home |
| Sep 4 | Northwest | Away, Justin |
| Sep 10 | Rowlett | Home |
| Sep 24 | Guyer | Away, Denton |
| Oct 2 | Lewisville | Home |
| Oct 9 | Hebron | Away, Carrollton |
| Oct 16 | Flower Mound | Home |
| Oct 23 | Braswell | Away, Little Elm |
| Oct 30 | Little Elm | Home |
| Nov 5 | Marcus | Away, Flower Mound |
Kickoffs are at 7:00. Check the boosters’ calendar before you drive anywhere, since dates move.
The part of football that shows up in my chair
A dentist sponsoring a football team is not as random as it sounds. Football is where teeth get broken.
The upper front teeth take most of it. They sit farther forward than everything else, so a helmet, an elbow, or the ground finds them first. The American Dental Association is direct about it: a mouthguard cushions the blow and protects the lips, tongue, and jaw along with the teeth, and it belongs in any collision sport.
Where I differ from a lot of the advice online is the boil-and-bite guard. I do not recommend that stuff. The only situation where I would tell someone to use one is a true emergency, a game this weekend and no realistic way to get to a dentist before it. Otherwise, skip it.
That leaves two good options, and either one is fine with me.
A dentist can make the guard. We do that here, off a digital scan, so it is thin where thin is fine and thick where the hit actually lands, and it stays put without the kid clenching to hold it in.
Or buy from a brand that takes this seriously. Shock Doctor is reputable. Their guards are safe and they hold up in football, and for a lot of families that is the practical answer.
I do not recommend boil-and-bite guards. If there is a game Friday and you cannot get to a dentist before it, use one that week. Then get a real guard.
Athletes in braces are their own problem, and this is where I have a specific preference. Brackets turn an ordinary hit into a cut lip, and a guard shaped around straight teeth does not fit over hardware anyway. Shock Doctor makes a line built specifically for braces, which is what I point braces patients toward. They sit over the brackets instead of fighting them, and the material keeps adapting as the teeth move, which they will do the entire time the braces are on. The double versions cover the lower teeth too. For football, I would take the double.
If you would rather we make one, that is a mouthguard appointment and a short one.
If a tooth gets knocked out on a Friday night
Worth knowing before it happens, because a permanent tooth is on a clock.
Knocked-out permanent tooth, in order
- Find it. Pick it up by the crown, the chewing part, never the root.
- If it is dirty, rinse it briefly with milk or water. No scrubbing, no soap, no toweling it off.
- Put it back in the socket if you can, and have the athlete bite gently on a clean cloth to hold it.
- If it will not go back, keep it in milk. Not water, not a dry napkin, not a pocket.
- Get to a dentist fast. Inside the first hour is the difference between saving it and not.
A knocked-out baby tooth is the opposite. Do not put it back. It can damage the permanent tooth forming above it. Call, but do not reimplant.
Here is the part nobody likes: our hours are Monday through Friday, 8:00 to 5:00. A tooth that comes out at a Friday night kickoff is happening after we close. Do not sit on it until Monday. For a knocked-out permanent tooth, a jaw that will not close, or bleeding that will not stop, go to an emergency room. For a chipped or cracked tooth that hurts but is stable, call us first thing and we will get you in for an emergency exam. Most chips and cracks are a same-visit fix.
Elate is in on this too
Elate Orthodontics is our orthodontic practice, and it is sponsoring the same season. Braces and clear aligners for kids, teens, and adults, out of three offices in West Frisco, North Frisco, and The Colony.
That is the practical division around here. If a Wakeland athlete needs a crown, a filling, a cleaning, or a mouthguard, that is us on FM 423. If he needs braces or aligners, or a guard that has to clear a full set of brackets, that is Elate.
Where to find us
Tribute Family Dentistry sits at 5605 FM 423, Suite 600-B, in Frisco 75036, at the Lebanon and FM 423 corner. Wakeland’s campus is a few miles east of us on Legacy Drive, which is why so much of our schedule is Wakeland, Griffin, and Cobb families.
We are members of the Frisco, The Colony, and Little Elm chambers of commerce. We joined Little Elm this summer, and Little Elm is now on Wakeland’s district schedule twice over. That is roughly the shape of this corner of the county: the same families, the same roads, and now the same district.
Season starts Thursday. Go Wolverines.
Frequently asked questions
Is Tribute Family Dentistry a sponsor of Wakeland football?
Yes. We are a 2026-27 sponsor of the Wakeland Football Boosters, along with our sister practice, Elate Orthodontics. Our office is at 5605 FM 423, Suite 600-B in Frisco, a few miles from campus.
When does Wakeland’s 2026 football season start?
The Wolverines open at home against Richland on Thursday, August 27, at 7:00. District 5-6A play starts September 24 at Guyer in Denton.
Why is Wakeland in 6A now?
The UIL realignment released in February 2026 moved Wakeland up. The school’s October enrollment count of 2,245 cleared the 2,215 threshold for 6A, making it the first Frisco ISD high school in that classification. The alignment covers the 2026-27 and 2027-28 school years.
Does a football mouthguard have to be custom made by a dentist?
No, but I do not recommend the boil-and-bite guards, except as a stopgap when there is a game coming and no way to see a dentist first. Either have a dentist make it, which we do here off a digital scan, or buy from a reputable brand like Shock Doctor. Both are safe for football. For athletes in braces I point people to Shock Doctor’s braces line, and for football I would take the double, which covers the lower teeth as well.
What should I do if my child’s tooth is knocked out at a game?
For a permanent tooth: handle it by the crown, rinse it in milk if it is dirty, put it back in the socket if you can, and if you cannot, store it in milk and get to a dentist or an emergency room within the hour. Do not scrub the root. Do not reimplant a baby tooth, since that can damage the permanent tooth underneath.
Do you see athletes from other Frisco ISD and Little Elm schools?
Yes. We treat families across West Frisco, The Colony, Little Elm, and the FM 423 corridor. Sponsoring Wakeland does not narrow who we see.
Sports guard, cracked tooth, or a checkup before the season gets busy
We are open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, we speak Spanish, and we work with most major insurance plans.
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About Tribute Family Dentistry
200+ five-star Google reviews Family owned and independent D Magazine Best Dentist 2026 Living Magazine Readers’ Choice 2026 Se habla español
Tribute is a family owned, independent practice on FM 423 in Frisco. I own it with my wife, Dr. Julia Kang, DMD, MS. We both trained at Boston University and we are both members of the Omicron Kappa Upsilon national honor society. I am a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics. Day to day, most patients and their kids see Dr. Christina Pham, DMD, our general and family dentist, and oral surgery is handled by Dr. David Roberts, DDS, who has been doing it for more than 35 years. D Magazine named me a Best Dentist for 2026, and Living Magazine readers voted us Best Family Dentist in Frisco and Plano the same year.
We handle the whole family in one place: cleanings and preventive care, fillings, crowns, bridges, implants, root canals, extractions and wisdom teeth, whitening, night guards, and emergency visits. We are open Monday through Friday, 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM, we speak Spanish, we work with most major insurance plans, and we run an in house savings plan for families without dental benefits.
If you need braces or clear aligners, that is the other side of what we do. Elate Orthodontics, our sister practice, treats kids, teens, and adults out of three offices in Frisco and The Colony.
Book an appointment: (469) 598-1021
5605 FM 423, Suite 600-B, Frisco, TX 75036
Dr. Kevin Baharvand, DMD, MS is a Diplomate of the American Board of Orthodontics and a national speaker on clear aligner treatment. His clinical work was selected for the cover of the American Journal of Orthodontics and Dentofacial Orthopedics. He and his wife, Dr. Julia Kang, own Tribute Family Dentistry and Elate Orthodontics in Frisco, Texas.
