The Use of Mouth-guards by Collegiate Athletes

Objectives: The American Dental Association recommends the use of athletic mouth-guards to reduce the chance of orofacial injury. However, this does not mean athletes wear them during sports. The aim of this study was to survey the collegiate athletes at Tufts University on their mouth-guard use and their opinion of its importance.
Methods: A 27-question survey was developed and pre-tested for face and content validity. The electronic survey was sent to 256 athletes who were members of the ice hockey, field hockey, football, lacrosse, softball, and basketball teams.
Results: 167 athletes (65.23%) responded to the survey: men’s ice hockey (24/27), men’s lacrosse (50/50), men’s football (26/80), men’s basketball (8/15), women’s field hockey (14/21), women’s lacrosse (25/30), women’s basketball (11/17), and women’s softball (8/25). There was a statistically significant difference (p=0.006) between gender and frequency of mouth-guard use with 65.88% men reporting always, 30.89% sometimes, 3.53% never and 90.24% women reporting always, 7.32% sometimes, 2.44% never. There was a statistically significant difference (p<0.001) between teams and the importance of using a mouth-guard with men’s and women’s basketball placing the least importance and women’s lacrosse, men’s lacrosse, field hockey, and football placing the highest importance. For athletes with a mouth-guard, there was a statistically significant difference (p<0.001) between teams regarding how often they were worn with 25% ice hockey, 66% men’s lacrosse, 84% football, 76% field hockey, 96% women’s lacrosse reporting wearing it all the time. Athletes reported cleaning their mouth-guards 0.82% always, 43.44% sometimes, and 55.74% never.
Conclusions: Women reported wearing their mouth-guard more often than men. The frequency of mouth-guard use and the importance of wearing one depended on the team. The majority of athletes reported not cleaning their mouth-guard. Collegiate athletes could benefit from education regarding the use and hygiene care of mouth-guards.