Awareness and use of mouthguards in risk sports by Spanish children between 6 and 18 years of age

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ABSTRACT

Aim

To investigate awareness and frequency of use of mouthguards in children and adolescents who engage in high-risk sports in various federated sports clubs in different provinces of Catalonia (Spain).

Material and methods

A total of 207 athletes aged between 6 and 18 years who belonged to one of the various official sports clubs across Catalonia (Spain) took part in the study. The participants completed a survey that included 13 anonymous questions to assess their awareness and use of a mouthguard while engaging in high-risk sports, the person who recommended its use, and among other variables, the dental history of sports-related injuries. Statistical analysis was performed using the chi-square test; Fisher’s exact test and analysis of variance (ANOVA) were used to determine the relationships among the variables. A p-value of 0.05 and a 95% reliability were considered statistically significant.

Results

A total of 207 questionnaires were completed by 101 female athletes (48.8%) and 106 male athletes (51.2%) with an average age of 11.57±3.1 years. A total of 78.7% (n=163) of these athletes were federated. Of the total sample, 16.4% (n=34) had sustained some form of sports-related orofacial injury; 86% (n=178) knew what a mouthguard was, although only 27% (n=56) had ever used one.

Conclusion

Use of a mouthguard as a preventive measure in sport was very low. One of the main reasons for this was the large amount of disinformation about this type of protection. It would be beneficial to enforce mandatory use of mouthguards in all high-risk sports.

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