ORIGINAL ARTICLE

 

Orofacial injuries in sports and use of mouthguards among university students

 

 

Maria Gabriela Haye Biazevic^I; Edgard Michel-Crosato^I; Ângelo Detoni^II; Renato Klotz^II; érika Regina de Souza^III; Dagmar de Paula Queluz^IV

^IDDS, MS, PhD, Assistant Professor, Department of Community Dentistry, Dental School, University of São Paulo, Brazil
^IIDDS, Undergraduate student, University of West Santa Catarina, Brazil
^IIIDDS, Master's degree student, Department of Community Dentistry, Dental School, University of São Paulo, Brazil
^IVDDS, MSPH, PhD, Professor, Department of Community Dentistry, Piracicaba Dental School, Sate University of Campinas, Brazil

Correspondence to

 

 

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ABSTRACT

AIM: To evaluate the prevalence of orofacial injuries during practice of sports and the use of mouthguards by university students in the southern region of Brazil.
METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, 700 undergraduates from the University of West Santa Catarina, Brazil, filled out a questionnaire with multiple-choice questions addressing social and economic status, education level of parents, orofacial injuries from sport practice, knowledge, importance and use of mouthguards. The collected data were entered into the EpiData 3.2 program, and were analyzed by descriptive statistics and the chi-square test using STATA 8.0 statistical software package with a significance level set at 5%.
RESULTS: Out of the total number of students surveyed, 37.02% claimed to have already sustained some kind of orofacial injury. Out of these, only 9.90% sought dental assistance after trauma. The most common injuries were: bleeding 54.55%, swelling 23.72%, and dental fractures 16.21%. Among the interviewees, 19.24% had already used mouthguard and 44.89% considered its use as important.
CONCLUSIONS: The prevalence of orofacial injuries during sport activities was high in the studied sample and only few of the interviewed university students used individual protection measures to avoid these injuries.

Keywords: epidemiology, mouth health, dental traumas.

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Correspondence to:
Edgard Michel Crosato
Departamento de Odontologia Social da Faculdade de Odontologia da USP
Avenida Professor Lineu Prestes, 2.227 Cidade Universitária
CEP 05508-000 São Paulo (SP), Brazil
E-mail: michelcrosato@usp.br

Received for publication: May 19, 2010
Accepted: June 21, 2010