ATTITUDES TO MOUTHGUARDS AND PREVALENCE OF OROFACIAL INJURIES IN 4 TEAMS COMPETING AT THE 2ND RUGBY WORLD CUP

The opportunity was taken to conduct a questionnaire survey of the members of four competing countries at the second Rugby World Cup tournament (Australia, Ireland, Scotland, Wales) regarding the prevalence of orofacial injuries and attitudes to mouthguards. The results show that while all players in each team believed that mouthguards provided local protection, approximately one in five of each team did not wear one. The average age when players first started wearing mouthguards varied from 12.7 years for Australia to 18.1 years for Wales, while the percentage of wearers willing to play without their mouthguard ranged from only 4.6% for Australia to 15.8% for Wales. Just less than half of the total group had previously sustained an orofacial injury playing rugby.