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Of the variety of mouth guards available to the conscientious athlete for protection of oral structures, the pressure-laminated appliance provides the best fit and most protection. The pressure-lamination technique, however, is not widely known among dentists. This article contains a step-by-step description of making pressure-laminated athletic mouth guards.
Many sports-related traumatic dental injuries are preventable with the use of appropriate, properly fitted athletic equipment such as helmets, facemasks, and mouthguards. This article presents information regarding the current generation of athletic mouthguards, and issues a challenge for the development of future independent scientific research that will transform current clinical empiricism into evidence based knowledge in sports dentistry.
From the introduction of a protective mouthpiece in the sport of boxing, the evidence for the importance of this piece of athletic equipment in injury prevention has grown. Yet, despite this knowledge, only five amateur sports and one professional sport have regulations requiring the use of mouthguards. Even in the sports that require their use, compliance is not universal. Attitudes of coaches, officials, parents, and players about wearing mouthguards all influence their usage. Studies of the attitudes of these groups reveal that coaches are perceived as the individuals with the most impact on whether or not players wear mouthguards. There is reluctance among college football officials to enforce mouthguard violations that they believe are inappropriate. Parents see themselves as having responsibility in determining mouthguard use; however, their views about when and for whom mouthguards are necessary reveal a lack of complete understanding of the benefits. Resistance on the part of players stems from the physical characteristics of the mouthguard, interference with breathing and speech, and the effect on the players' image. Education on the effectiveness of properly fitted mouthguards for injury prevention, information on the risk for injury, availability of more comfortable and appealing mouthguards, and development of an approach for expanding regulations are all tools that can lead to the development of more positive attitudes and increased usage.
Mild head injury is a frequent occurrence in a multitude of athletic endeavors across all levels of play. Clinicians should carefully consider all interventions at their disposal to reduce the prevalence and severity of injury to protect those involved. The exploration and evaluation of using properly fitted mouthguards to provide effective, albeit limited, defense against brain injury merits attention. The minimal costs of such an intervention when properly applied would no doubt reap numerous benefits in terms of reducing the medical, financial, cognitive, psychological, and social consequences of mild head injury. The cosmetic salvation would be no small side effect to efficacious, properly fitted mouthguard use.
This article discusses legal issues relevant to a dentist who provides services to individuals who participate in sports. It addresses the potential liability of both volunteer and paid team dentists as well as spectators at events. It also discusses private practice dentists providing fee-for-service care to athletes. This article is intended to stimulate dentists to consider the potential liabilities that may arise from the seemingly innocent act of helping others.
For dentists interested in sports dentistry, there are a wide variety of private practice and community activities available for involvement. These activities include, among others, volunteering for mouth guard programs, participating as a sports team dentist, and becoming an active member in the Academy for Sports Dentistry.
For the millions of people in the world with special needs, dental care is usually not a priority, often taking a back seat to more pressing and complicated medical issues. This article offers a brief overview of the integration of a dental program into the Special Olympics organization. This overview is followed by a discussion on dental education with regard to people with special needs, and then reviews measures for the prevention of injuries.
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Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Dental guards are an airway adjunct recommended for patients at risk for dental injury during airway instrumentation; however, reportedly only 2% of anesthesiologists use dental guards during intubation. In this case report, a 64-year-old patient was admitted for a right retromastoid craniectomy with microvascular decompression of the fifth cranial nerve. The patient had crowns on all her maxillary teeth. The anesthesia team, which consisted of a student anesthetist, Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist, and anesthesiologist, planned to prevent dental damage through the use of a dental guard (Bay Medical, Clearwater, Fla). Prior to intubation a dental guard was inserted on the upper teeth. Induction, intubation, and surgery were uneventful, but in the recovery area the patient complained of a sore throat. After transfer to the intensive care unit, the patient continued to complain of secretions and sore throat and was noted to have hoarseness. When a Yankauer suction catheter was inserted, the dental guard was discovered in the patient's mouth. Apparently during the busy sequence of events following intubation, the dental guard was overlooked and was displaced into the posterior oropharynx. Recommendations for the proper use of dental guards are needed to avoid complications; however, there is a scarcity of information available in the conventional anesthesia literature regarding this intubation adjunct. We recommend careful documentation, clear communication with all team members, and attention to avoid displacement during subsequent airway manipulation.
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During the course of 1998, the Army Dental Care System launched "Put More 'Bite' into Health Promotion," a campaign to revitalize health promotion in the Army Dental Care System. In this paper, we discuss the content, rationale, and evidence base for three of five health promotion initiatives that are part of the campaign: mouthguard fabrication and counseling, sealant placement and education, and nursing caries education.
U.S. Air Force otologic patients seeking care at Wilford Hall Medical Center for tinnitus, dizziness, and/or nonotologic otalgia without an identifiable cause and presenting with temporomandibular disorder (TMD) symptoms in the temple, jaw, or preauricular area or with otalgia at least once a month were referred to a TMD specialty clinic. The patients were provided a dental orthotic and TMD self-care instructions. After 3 months of orthotic wear, the percentages of patients reporting at least moderate symptom improvement of their tinnitus, dizziness, otalgia, and/or TMD were 64, 91, 87, and 92%, respectively. Follow-up telephone calls 6 months after completion of TMD therapy revealed that all patients maintained their symptom improvements. These findings imply that TMD was affecting the patients' otologic symptoms. Patients seeking care for tinnitus, dizziness, and/or nonotologic otalgia without an identifiable cause may have TMD, and their otologic symptoms may benefit from conservative reversible TMD therapy.
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