SportingSmiles

What SportingSmiles does

SportingSmiles, operating under the legal name Sporting Smiles, is a privately held, USA-based direct-to-consumer dental laboratory founded in 2009 by Evan McCarthy. The company designs, manufactures, and ships custom-fitted dental appliances — teeth retainers, night guards for bruxism, custom teeth-whitening trays, and protective sports mouthguards — directly to consumers, bypassing the dental office. The flagship operational mechanism is a patented at-home teeth impression kit that customers use to self-administer dental impressions in roughly 10 minutes and return by pre-paid shipping; the resulting impressions are fabricated into custom products in the company's in-house dental lab and mailed back. The company also offers lifetime 3D digital impression storage and one-year physical impression retention as reorder infrastructure.

The product portfolio spans individual SKUs such as the Essix Plus Clear Teeth Retainers ($140 per pair), the Flexible Super Hard Night Guard ($105, the best-selling item), and the Ultimate Retainer Bundle ($265, combining two sets of retainers, custom whitening trays, and a 3D impression scan), plus sport-specific mouthguards for at least eleven sports. Manufacturing is performed domestically, and the company positions its pricing at approximately half the cost of equivalent dentist services as the central value proposition. Distribution is exclusively through the company's own e-commerce storefront, with free shipping in the United States and paid international shipping elsewhere; marketing runs on owned social channels (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Pinterest, YouTube) and a Subscribe & Save email list.

SportingSmiles is bootstrapped with no disclosed venture funding, no parent company, and no disclosed leadership beyond the founder. The firm self-reports a cumulative customer base exceeding one million worldwide and brands itself as "The No. 1 online dental lab in America." Revenue, headcount within the disclosed 11-50 band, and unit-level order volumes are not publicly disclosed, which limits any external triangulation of growth or financial scale.

Name

SportingSmiles

Legal name

Sporting Smiles

Website

https://SportingSmiles.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2009

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

SportingSmiles is a privately held, USA-based direct-to-consumer dental laboratory founded in 2009 that designs and ships custom retainers, night guards, whitening trays, and sports mouthguards to individual consumers using a patented at-home impression kit, priced at roughly half the cost of dentist-channel equivalents.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Custom Dental Products

NAICS

Dental Laboratories (339116), Dental Equipment and Supplies Manufacturing (339114)

SIC

Dental Equipment & Supplies (3843), Sporting & Athletic Goods, Nec (3949)

akta.pro primary industry

Team Sports Protective Gear & Sports Medicine Retail (CRAMAEAJ)

Keywords

• Custom dental products
• Night guards
• Teeth retainers
• Sports mouthguards
• Teeth whitening trays

Headquarters

HQ city

Brookfield

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Supply Chain, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Personnel, Technology or R&D

Revenue model

1. Custom Dental Products: One-time purchase of custom dental products (retainers, night guards, whitening trays, sports mouthguards) manufactured in-house and shipped directly to consumers. Products ordered online with at-home impression process.
2. Reorder/Repeat Purchases: Existing customers can reorder products using stored 3D or physical impressions, creating repeat purchase opportunities. Includes reorder discount options.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

SportingSmiles is a direct-to-consumer online dental laboratory that manufactures and ships custom-fitted dental products (teeth retainers, night guards for bruxism, teeth whitening trays, and sports mouthguards) to individual consumers. Customers order online, receive a patented at-home impression kit, self-administer dental impressions, and have custom products fabricated in SportingSmiles' USA-based lab and mailed back. The company emphasizes pricing at roughly half the cost of a dentist, no office visit, and lifetime storage of 3D digital impressions for easy reordering.

Product overview

SportingSmiles is a direct-to-consumer dental laboratory offering custom dental products manufactured from customer-provided teeth impressions. The product portfolio centers on four core offerings: teeth retainers (Essix Plus Clear Teeth Retainers), night guards (Flexible Super Hard Night Guard), custom teeth whitening trays, and custom sports mouth guards for various athletic activities. The company also sells bundled packages like the Ultimate Retainer Bundle that combines retainers, whitening trays, and 3D impression scans. All products are fabricated in the company's USA-based lab using customer teeth impressions created with the company's patented at-home impression kit, enabling professional-quality dental products to be delivered directly to consumers at reduced costs compared to traditional dental offices.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Essix Plus Clear Teeth Retainers Clear plastic retainers sold as a pair (upper and lower) designed to maintain teeth alignment after orthodontic treatment. Sold directly to consumers with free U.S. shipping and a 90-day warranty at $140.00.
• Flexible Super Hard Night Guard Custom night guard designed to protect teeth from bruxism (teeth grinding) during sleep, featuring a flexible yet hard material for durability and comfort. Sold directly to consumers at $105.00 with free U.S. shipping and a 90-day warranty.
• Ultimate Retainer Bundle Bundle including two sets of retainers, custom whitening trays, and a 3D impression scan. Sold directly to consumers at $265.00 as a comprehensive package for post-orthodontic maintenance and at-home whitening.
• Custom Sports Mouth Guards Custom-fitted protective mouth guards for sports including basketball, boxing, football, hockey, lacrosse, MMA, motorcross, rugby, soccer, softball, and wrestling. Made from the customer's at-home impression and shipped directly to the consumer.
• Custom Teeth Whitening Trays Custom-fitted dental trays used with whitening gel to whiten teeth at home, positioned as a professional-quality alternative to dentist-supplied whitening at a fraction of the cost. Sold directly to consumers and shipped after the at-home impression step.
• Patented Teeth Impression Kit Proprietary at-home dental impression kit sent to customers after ordering any product, enabling self-administered dental impressions in approximately 10 minutes with a pre-paid return shipping box. The resulting impressions are used by SportingSmiles' USA-based lab to fabricate the ordered custom dental products.

Named customers1 record

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature3 records

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Byte: D2C clear aligner company (now owned by Dentsply Sirona) that uses remote impression workflows and ships custom oral devices directly to consumers. Operates with the same DTC-at-home paradigm that defines SportingSmiles' distribution model.
• Shock Doctor: Leading sports mouthguard brand offering custom-fit and boil-and-bite mouthguards across football, hockey, basketball, and other team sports. Direct competitor in the custom sports mouthguard SKU that SportingSmiles offers across 11+ sports.
• Retainer Club: Direct-to-consumer retainer specialist that mails custom-fit retainers using a remote impression workflow. Closest head-to-head comparable to SportingSmiles on the flagship Essix retainer line, with a subscription/reorder focus.
• Candid Co. D2C clear aligner brand using remote impression kits and licensed orthodontist oversight to deliver custom orthodontic devices at home. Closely comparable on go-to-market (at-home impression kit + direct ship) and on the adjacent post-treatment retainer use case that SportingSmiles serves.
• SmileDirectClub: Direct-to-consumer dental device maker that bypassed in-office dental visits by shipping custom-fit oral appliances directly to consumers. Same DTC-at-home-impression commercial model that SportingSmiles uses for retainers and night guards, targeting cost-conscious consumers who want to avoid dentist markups.
• SISU Mouth Guards: Custom-fit and boil-and-bite sports mouthguard brand sold direct-to-consumer and through sports retailers. Competes with SportingSmiles in the custom sports mouthguard category with a comparable premium positioning.

Broad incumbents

• Crest (Procter & Gamble): Mass-market OTC whitening brand (strips, trays, gels) sold through retail and DTC, directly competing with SportingSmiles' custom whitening trays on price-conscious shelf-discoverable alternatives.
• Under Armour: Global sportswear brand whose performance mouthguard line competes with SportingSmiles' custom sports guards. Broader incumbent with significant team-sponsorship and retail distribution that SportingSmiles does not have.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubeyoutube.com/sportingsmiles
• Facebookfacebook.com/SportingSmiles
• Instagraminstagram.com/sportingsmiles
• TikToktiktok.com/@sportingsmiles
• Pinterestpinterest.com/sportingsmiles
• Xx.com/sporting_smiles
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/sportingsmiles

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about SportingSmiles