Abstract
Mouthguards are well known to reduce the incidence of oro-facial injury in contact sports and the use of this device is gradually spreading among athletes in Japan. There however are scarcely any reports about sport injuries in children, especially oro-facial injuries, and about posibility of preventing for such injuries by wearing a mouthguard.
This study investigated the circumstance of oro-facial injuries and the awareness and wearing comfort of a mouthguard while using it. The subjects participating in this study were the children belonging to a Karate-do sport club.
The following results were obtained.
The incidence of injuries experienced at the Karate-do was 71% and the site of the injuries were almost always in the head and oro-facial region. Forty percent of the children were not interested in preventing injury. Although the diffusion of mouthguards was 68%, almost all (97%) of the children recognized the device. Almost all of the children wore the mouthguard at competitions but only 19% of them wore it during practice. Sixty-one percent was not satisfied with the mouthguard and difficulty in speaking, increased saliva output, cleanliness and difficulty in breathing were disclosed as their complaine. Discomfort when wearing the mouthguard improved somewhat within 4 weeks. The wearing comfort for a custom-made type mouthguard was better than that of the mouth-formed type in three children out of four.
