Awareness of sports‐related dental emergencies and prevention practices among Libyan contact sports coaches: A cross‐sectional study

Abstract

Background and aims Despite the high incidence rate of dental trauma and its possible devastating physical and psychological consequences on children, little is known about sport‐related dental trauma and its prevention and management among Libyan sports coaches. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge and attitude of Benghazi contact sports coaches regarding sport‐related dental trauma and its prevention and management. Methods A cross‐sectional study design was used. Two hundred and thirty‐one contact sports coaches were recruited from different public and private youth sports centers across Benghazi. The data were collected using a self‐administered questionnaire translated into Arabic and piloted to evaluate its validity and clarity. In addition, Mann–Whitney U, Kruskal–Wallis, and χ 2 tests were used to check associations between the variables. Results A total of 151 contact sports coaches returned a completed questionnaire; the majority of coaches (74%) have seen orofacial injuries during their coaching career, whereas less than half of them (47%) personally experienced these injuries. Only one participant said he would preserve the tooth in milk, and four indicated that they would replant it. Most coaches (89.4%) knew what a mouthguard is, but 53.6% would recommend its use, and these were more likely to have previously used mouthguards ( p ≤ 0.001). About 41.1% received previous training on TDIs‐related emergencies. Higher knowledge scores were observed among coaches who previously received training ( p = 0.023). Conclusion The findings of this study indicate low awareness of how to manage and prevent orofacial injuries among Libyan contact sports coaches, even though they commonly encounter these injuries and believe in mouthguards' effectiveness. Previous training on managing emergencies and experience appeared to influence the coaches' knowledge. Training coaches on preventing TDIs and their early management in sports fields should be an implemented policy and a prerequisite to obtaining a training license.

Faculty of sports science students, physical education teachers, and athletes’ level of knowledge and attitude about mouthguards

“…In the study by Sepet et al [ 33 ], Galic et al [ 42 ] and Elareibi et al [ 25 ] 55.4%, 97.3% and 89.4% of the participants knew that they should use mouthguards, respectively; only 11.2% of participants, 41% and 14.8% of them used mouthguards. Similarly, in our study, although most of the participants knew that they should use mouthguards (71.6%), very few chose to use them (14.8%) (Table 2 ).…”

Awareness Levels About Specialty Services Offered by the Faculty of Dentistry in Sebha, Libya

“…Our study had 450 participants from Sebha City in Southern Libya. Elareibi et al [10] performed an awareness study on sportsrelated dental emergencies among Libyan sports coaches in Benghazi. Tarhuni et al [11] performed an awareness study on molar incisor hypomineralization among dentists in Benghazi.…”

Oral health Promotion: Are we doing it right?

“…Several studies have highlighted the insufficient oral health related knowledge among parents, teachers and sports coaches. 10 Therefore, it is highly recommended that future oral health campaigns expand their target groups to include different age groups, settings and planned in a way that ensures fulfilling the community needs and reducing inequalities in oral health.…”