Abstract des Autors

Athletic trainers and women's basketball teams from eight Southwest Conference universities participated in a mouthguard program during the 1990-91 basketball season. Custom mouthguards were constructed for 105 women basketball players. Seventy-two of the players wore the mouthguards during the season. Though most, 72 (69%), of the athletes chose to wear their mouthguards, 33 (31%) did not. Complaints that the mouthguards were too thick or bulky, caused a dry mouth, and interfered with breathing and speech were reported. While ten oral injuries occurred in the 33 players who did not wear mouthguards, only two of the 72 players wearing mouthguards sustained oral injuries. Injuries reported in those not wearing mouthguards included eight lip lacerations, one displaced tooth, and one concussion. Injuries reported in mouthguard wearers included one lip laceration and one chin or tongue laceration. The resultant injury rates were 30.3% for athletes not wearing mouthguards and 2.8% for those wearing mouthguards. Verf.-Referat