Oral Examination on Junior Football Players in 2016

Objectives: Elite football players had little awareness of their oral health and had poor oral health. Poor oral health expected to affect their performance. We carried out oral examination for junior youth team in 2015 and informed the results to them. The aim of this research was to examine the oral situation of the junior elite football players in 2016 and to compare the result between 2015 and 2016 in order to confirm the improvement of their oral health awareness.
Methods: This investigation was conducted for junior youth and youth team in one professional football team. A total of 106 male junior football players were recruited. 63 players (mean age 13.1±0.8) were from junior youth team and 43 from youth team (mean age 16.1±0.7). Clinical oral health examination, including decayed(D), missing(M), filled(F) teeth and so on, was conducted at Osaka University Dental Hospital.
Results: In junior youth team, DMFT index was 1.22. The mean of D was 0.65 and F was 0.56. In youth team, DMFT index, D, and F was 3.56, 1.88, and 1.84 respectively. DMFT index was increased with age and a significant correlation between them was observed. There was no significant difference in the number of D between the last and this year. Compared with the last examination, increase of D was observed in 15 players (26%) and decrease in 9 players (16%). After the examination, we gave intensive treatment to 7 players with decayed teeth.
Conclusions: DMFT index was significantly increased with age. There was no significant difference of the number of decayed teeth between the last and this year. These results suggested that we need to motivate young athletes to recognize the importance of oral health with more substantial scientific evidences related to their daily performances.