Prevalence of Dental Traumas and Mouthguard use Among Contact Sports’ Players in Kigali, Rwanda

Background Dental traumas are widely prevalent in contact sports and are among the main public oral health concerns. They are attributed to nonuse and/or insufficient use of mouth guards, as protective means, for players in the game. Objectives The study aims to assess the prevalence of dental traumas among the contact sports and to determine the significance of using mouth guards in the prevention of such traumas. Methodology This was a cross sectional study conducted on the selected sports games in Kigali city, Rwanda. Data were collected using semi-structured questionnaires and analysed for any associations between independent variables and dependent variable with chi-square and logistic regression tests. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 21 was used for the analysis. Results The prevalence of dental trauma was 58.9% among contact sports players in Kigali. Most respondents had information about mouth guards (94.7%) and many of them (62.2%) affirmed they could prevent dental traumas. This study has shown a significant association between dental traumas and mouth-guard use where players who did not use mouthguards were 5.8 times more likely to have dental traumas compared to those who used them regularly [OR=5.81;95% CI=2.44-13.82; p<0.001]. Conclusion A high prevalence of dental traumas was observed among the players despite the proven protection of using mouthguards. Therefore, putting emphasis on regular use of mouthguards would result in a huge reduction of risk and keep those traumas to a minimum. Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2022;5(3):315-32