Häufigkeit von Zahn-, Mund- und Kieferverletzungen und Bewährung von Mundschutzen bei Spitzensportlern

Abstract

The aim of the study was to determine the prevalence of orofacial injuries among German top athletes and their attitudes to mouthguards. A questionnaire was mailed to athletes of 10 German contact sports associations. 64.3 percent (303) of the athletes returned questionnaires. 62 percent (188) of the respondents reported that at some time they wore a mouthguard for sports participation. 47.3% (male: 57.8%, female: 38.3%) of these were currently using one. 50% of the mouthguards were custom made by dentists, and 50% were shop bought (boil-and-bite). 32 percent of the participants had, at some time during their sports career, suffered an orofacial injury. The incidence of fractured anterior upper teeth and completely knocked out teeth for athletes without mouthguards was 7 and 14, respectively. Whereas for athletes wearing mouthguards one fractured tooth was reported. Athletes with mouthguards complained of problems with speaking (19.9%) rather than of breathing (3.4%) and fitting difficulties (4.8%). Boil-and-bite mouthguards caused more fitting problems than custom-made ones. As prevalence of oral injuries in body-contact sports is high, athletes should be advised that custom-made mouthguards offer the greatest comfort, fit, durability, and protection against dental injuries.

Dental injuries in mountain biking – a survey in Switzerland, Austria, Germany and Italy

“…An astonishing finding was that juniors had experienced more dental trauma than professionals – the interviewed professionals were once young, and surely had been active for much longer periods of time than the juniors who participated. Nevertheless, this may be explained by the athletes forgetting tooth injuries they had experienced when they were young, or by them developing a more aggressive racing style in recent years (6). Additionally, the professionals had more frequently worn mouthguards, which may further explain these results.…”

“…Accident-caused dental injuries are found in the permanent dentition of children and adolescents in 20-35% (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Sport activities such as mountain biking, inline skating, skateboarding, and aggressive contact sports increase the risk of dental trauma (6). Upper incisors are the most predisposed teeth to injuries (52-90% of all trauma cases) because of their location.…”

“…Most of them do not recognize the necessity of wearing one (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32). Others anticipate problems in verbal communication, poor retention, breathing difficulties and disagreeable esthetics (6,19,21).…”

Dental injuries in inline skating – level of information and prevention

“…The facts that 34.6% didn't know mouthguard and only 32.4% were aware of the tooth rescue kit show the need of information in the area of inline skating. Using custom‐made mouthguard can reduce the risk of dental accidents up to 14 times (1).…”

“…Due to high-risk sports like skateboarding and mountain biking the probability of suffering orofacial injuries has increased in the last years (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Today up to 35% of all children and adolescents suffer dental accidents involving permanent teeth (6)(7)(8)(9); especially to the front teeth of the upper jaw because of their exposed position (10)(11)(12).…”