Basketball players’ experience of dental injury and awareness about mouthguard in China

Abstract

The objective of the present study was to describe the occurrence of orofacial, particularly dental injuries in basketball, and to survey the athletes' awareness concerning the use of mouthguards during basketball training and competition. A pilot questionnaire was designed and tested with basketball players. Two hundred and thirty-six male athletes were surveyed. Seventy-seven players were professional players. Exactly 80.6% professionals and 37.7% semi-professional athletes had an experience of oral soft tissue laceration and dental injuries in basketball practice. The difference between the two groups is significant. The incidence of dental and oral injuries was related to the length of training time. About 59% of the athletes ranked the risk of orofacial and dental injury in basketball as medium. Although the awareness of mouthguards among the basketball players was very high (80.1%), only one of them had used the custom-made mouthguard. Most of the athletes gained the knowledge about mouthguards from foreign players (33.5%), media (24.8%) and teammates/classmates (24.3%). The influence of dentists was very weak. Athletes should be informed about the high risk of oral injuries when participating in contact sports. Dentists should play a more significant role in the program of promoting mouthguard use to prevent the occurrence of oral injury in sport participation.

Prevalence of dental trauma and use of mouthguards in rugby union players

“…1,4,6,8,10,12,14,16,20 There are three types of mouthguards available: type I (stock) are for public sale and used without modification; type II ('boil and bite') are made of a thermoplastic material that is softened and then moulded to the dental arch by the user; and type III (custom-made) are made by a dentist using a mould of the patient's dental arches. 13,15,16,22 Custom-made mouthguards offer greater protection and wearers have fewer complaints about difficulty in breathing and speaking.…”

“…A survey of 236 basketball players in China assessed their knowledge about the value of mouthguards in the prevention of dental injuries. 10 Player knowledge was high (80%) but only one player wore a custom-made mouthguard. These results show a discrepancy between player knowledge about injury prevention and their reported behaviour.…”

“…5,7,10,13,18,21 Questionnaires have commonly been used to gather this data. To date there is no published data evaluating mouthguard use by young adults playing rugby union.…”

“…[1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10] Orofacial and dental trauma can result from falls, assaults, motor vehicle accidents and sporting accidents. 11 Injuries consist of simple tooth concussion, fracture, luxation and avulsion, laceration of the gingiva, and jaw fractures.…”

Spor Li̇sesi̇ Öğrenci̇leri̇ni̇n, Beden Eği̇ti̇mi̇ Öğretmenleri̇ni̇n Ve Di̇ş Heki̇mleri̇ni̇n Ağiz Koruyucular Hakkindaki̇ Düşünceleri̇

“…Bununla birlikte, travmatik dental ve yüz yaralanmaları spor aktivitelerinde sıklıkla meydana gelmekte ve sonuçta da estetik, fizyolojik ve ekonomik problemlere neden olmaktadır. Diş ve destek dokuları içerebilen bu yaralanmalar, maçlar ya da antremanlar sırasında oluşabilmekte ve görülme sıklığı, %3-81 arasında değişmektedir [1][2][3] . Bu oran; spor aktivitesi türüne, sporcunun yaşına, rekabet düzeyine, verilerin kaynağına (antrenörler, hastane acil servisleri, dental klinikler vb.)…”