Our purpose with this consensus statement is a call to action regarding oral health in sport since there is no evidence of an improving situation. As background, this paper will first summarise the key issues; what we know about oral health in elite sport, the impact of oral health on performance, how oral health might affect performance, why athletes have poor oral health and evidence-based oral health promotion and disease prevention. It will then conclude with recommendations to guide the improvement of oral health in elite athletes. Methods: this consensus statement is informed by a systematic review and subsequent discussion by participants of the symposium, Oral Health and Performance in Sport-Learning from London 2012, 4 April 2014, UCL, London. Since several articles have been written about orofacial trauma previously, the focus of this statement is concerned with oral health. WHAT DO WE KNOW ABOUT ORAL HEALTH IN ELITE SPORT? We conducted a detailed systematic review based on the focused question: 'What is the oral health of athletes and what is the effect of oral health on athletic training and performance?' 4 We searched MEDLINE, EMBASE, EBSCO SPORTDiscus and OpenGrey up to October 2013 with no language restrictions. Duplicate screening, eligibility assessment, data abstraction and methodological quality
This is the first large, representative sample study in professional football. Oral health of professional footballers is poor, and this impacts on well-being and performance. Successful strategies to promote oral health within professional football are urgently needed, and research should investigate models based on best evidence for behaviour change and implementation science. Furthermore, this study provides strong evidence to support oral health screening within professional football.
While the research base is limited, studies have consistently reported poor oral health in elite athletes since the first report from the 1968 Olympic Games. The finding is consistent both across selected samples attending dental clinics at major competitions and more representative sampling of teams and has led to calls from the International Olympic Committee for more accurate data on oral health. Poor oral health is an important issue directly as it can cause pain, negative effects on appearance and psychosocial effects on confidence and quality of life and may have long-term consequences for treatment burden. Self-reported evidence also suggests an impact on training and performance of athletes. There are many potential challenges to the oral health of athletes including nutritional, oral dehydration, exercise-induced immune suppression, lack of awareness, negative health behaviours and lack of prioritisation. However, in theory, oral diseases are preventable by simple interventions with good evidence of efficacy. The consensus statement aims to raise awareness of the issues of oral health in elite sport and recommends strategies for prevention and health promotion in addition to future research strategies.
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