Knowledge and attitudes about sports-related dental injuries and mouthguard use in young athletes in four different contact sportswater polo, karate, taekwondo and handball

Background/AimsThe increasing popularity of participating in sports activities among children and adolescents has increased the risk of sports-related orofacial and dental injuries. Therefore, it is important to establish efficient preventive strategies regarding sports-related dental trauma. The aim of this study was to evaluate the occurrence of sports-related dental injuries in young athletes and to compare the frequency of such injuries between high-risk and medium-risk sports, along with assessing athletes' attitudes and habits regarding mouthguard use. MethodsA total of 229 young athletes from four different sports (water polo (n=59), karate (n=58), taekwondo (n=57) and handball (n=55)) participated in this study. A standardized questionnaire about the frequency of orofacial and dental injuries was used. Questions were also asked about athletes' habits related to mouthguard use. ResultsMean age of the participants was 12.93.2years, and the average time of playing experience was 4.8 +/- 3.1years. Orofacial injury had been experienced by 58 athletes (25.3%), while 31 athletes (13.5%) suffered dental injury. Higher rate of dental injuries was observed in water polo (18.6%), karate (17.2%) and handball (21.8%) than in taekwondo (3.5%) (P=.035). Most participants were aware of mouthguards for dental trauma prevention and considered them efficient for preventing dental injuries during sports activities, but only 94 (41%) used them. There was a statistically significant difference in the use of mouthguards between taekwondo (73.7%) and karate (70.7%) players compared to handball (14.5%) and water polo players (5.1%) (P<.001). ConclusionsHandball and water polo had similarly high occurrence of dental trauma as karate, a high-risk martial art sport. Therefore, the classification of sports according to the risk of dental trauma should be reconsidered. It would be beneficial to make wearing a mouthguard mandatory in all high-risk sports, as well as in those with medium-risk for dental injuries.