The prevalence of sports –related dental injuries and the rate of awareness of mouthguard use among child athletes

INTRODUCTION: Sport activities are among the most important causes of dental injuries. The prevalence of dental injuries is higher in children and contact sports and the use of mouthguards can reduce their incidence. The goal of this study was to determine the frequency and type of dental injuries in child athletes and their parent’s awareness regarding the use of mouthguards.
METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on child athletes aged 7 – 13 years. The questionnaires were completed by their parents. The questionnaire included questions on, demographic data, type and history of sport activity, history of sports-related dental injuries, type of dental injury, awareness on mouthguards, type of mouthguard used and problems during its use. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and Chi square test. Level of significance was set at p< 0.05.
RESULTS: 356 child athletes with a mean age of 10.72±2.08 participated in the study. The prevalence of dental injuries during sport activity was 15.5%and was higher in boys (70.9%, 39 of 55) than in girls (29.09%, 16 of 55) (p=0.008). The most commonly affected age was 12 years (38.2%). The dental injuries rates were as follows: mobility (58%), crown fracture (36.4%) and avulsion (5.6%). The rate of awareness of the mouthguard was 48.6%, while the utilization rate was 23.9%.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: According to our result, the rate of dental injuries among boys and full contact sport players are high and the most common dental injury is mobility. The age and prevalence of dental injuries in young athletes is not higher than has been reported in other countries. The provision of proper mouthguard and regular use of it possibly reduce the occurrence of dental injuries during sport activity.