Prevalence of Dental Trauma and Mouthguard Awareness Among Weekend Warrior Soccer Players

Traumatic dental and facial injuries are frequent in sports and often cause esthetic, functional, psychological, and economic problems. The term "weekend warrior" is used to describe people who participate in physically demanding activities only on the weekend, or part-time. In this prospective cohort study, we examined the prevalence of dental trauma and knowledge of traumatic dental injuries among weekend warriors in Ankara, Turkey. A detailed questionnaire on mouthguard awareness and knowledge and experience of dental trauma was distributed to 1,007 weekend warrior athletes participating in a soccer tournament. The results showed that 9.8% of participants had experienced orofacial trauma, 21.7% were aware of mouthguards, 2.9% reported using mouthguards, 15.4% were aware of the field of sports dentistry, and 19.6% were aware of emergency treatment for dental trauma. Participation in sports, especially contact sports, greatly increases the risk of dental injury. The present results show that knowledge of traumatic orofacial and dental injuries is limited among weekend warriors. Public health authorities should develop relevant educational programs, including broad dissemination of information on the risks of traumatic dental injuries and methods for protection against such injuries.WoSScopu

Effects of oral prophylaxis including tongue cleaning on halitosis and gingival inflammation in gingivitis patientsa randomized controlled clinical trial

ObjectiveThe objective of this study was to assess the effect of oral prophylaxis including tongue scraping on level of halitosis, clinical periodontal parameters and local cytokine response in gingivitis patients.Materials and methodsIn this randomized controlled clinical trial, 36 gingivitis patients were randomly assigned into two subgroups after scaling and polishing. Group 1 received oral hygiene instructions including the use of tongue scraper; group 2 received oral hygiene instructions alone without tongue cleaning. Levels of volatile sulfur compounds (VSC), organoleptic and tongue coating scores, clinical periodontal parameters and gingival crevicular fluid (GCF) samples were collected at baseline and 7days after oral prophylaxis. GCF samples were analyzed using multiplexing analysis for the simultaneous measurements of cytokines. The Chi-square, Mann-Whitney U, Wilcoxon, and Student's paired and unpaired t tests were used for statistical analysis.ResultsStatistically significant reductions were found in terms of clinical periodontal parameters in both groups. However, significant improvements in VSC levels, organoleptic and tongue coating scores were observed just in tongue scraping group. Moreover, the GCF levels of IL-1 and IL-8 significantly decreased after the treatment in group 1 according to the baseline values.ConclusionThe present study indicated that oral prophylaxis including tongue scraping was effective in improving intra-oral halitosis and pro-inflammatory cytokine response in GCF in gingivitis patients.Clinical relevanceThe results suggest that tongue scraping can be taken into consideration in order to manage gingival inflammation as well as VSC levels in gingivitis patients but further clinical studies are required to judge the clinical relevance