Investigation And Research On Oro- Facial Injuries, Dental Trauma, And Usage Of Custom Mouthguard In Chinese Women’s Field Hockey Athletes

Objective: The objectives of this study were to asscess the prevalence of oro-facial injuries,frequency of dental trauma and athletes’ attitudes towards injuries and mouthguards among Chinese female field hockey players.The purpose of the in-vivo study was to test the influence of different palatal edges of custom-made mouthguards on retention and comfort.Methods:(a)106 female field hockey players were asked to complete a questionnaire.Main outcome measures were prevalence of oro-facial injuries,frequency of dental trauma,attitudes to trauma and mouthguard wearing.(b)40 female hockey players(professional/semi-professional)were enrolled in a parallel-controlled study.All players were asked to wear customized mouthguard with palatal edge length of 2 mm(MG1)and 5 mm(MG2).Visual assessment scales(VAS)were completed,assessed in terms of occlusion,pronunciation,breathing,discomfort,lip movement,muscle soreness,swallowing,nausea and subjective retention.Paired t test was used for analysis on SPSS software when fitted by normal distribution.P < 0.05 was considered to have statistical difference.Results:(a)Among 105 samples returned,38(36.2%)experienced oro-facial injuries in hockey.52.6%(n=20)experienced dental trauma,mainly in the maxillary central incisor(MCI)(80.0%).100.0% were injured after being hit by a ball or a stick.65.8% of the injured athletes were treated by team doctors at time of the trauma,21.1% by assistant coaches.86.8% of the injured athletes felt unsafe during games after injury.34.3% of the athletes believed that oro-facial injuries might lead to inability to continue exercise.86.7% of the athletes used mouthguard as recommended by chief coach.75.2% of the athletes knew the type II mouthguard,63.8% knew the type III,and 6.7% did not know mouthguard at all.(b)No significant differences were observed between MG1 and MG2 in thickness,occlusion,breathing,lip movement,muscle soreness and subjective retention.On the other hand,scores on pronunciation,discomfort,swallowing and nausea were significantly decreased compared to MG2(P<0.05)Conclusions: Female field hockey players were facing high risk of oro-facial injuries and dental trauma,so the prevention and education of trauma for sports teams should be emphasized.Compared with the traditional mouthguard,the modified customized mouthguard on the palatal edge had no significant change in subjective retention,but had significant improvement in pronunciation,swallowing,discomfort and nausea.