Citation

Onyeaso CO. Odontostomatol. Trop. 2004; 27(105): 32-36.

Affiliation

Department of Preventive Dentistry, College of Medicine/University College Hospital, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Secrétariat de santé dentaire de l'Afrique)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

15281300

Abstract

To assess the awareness and frequency of use of mouth-guards for football (soccer) among secondary school children in Ibadan, Nigeria, as well as the amount of oro-facial trauma previously associated with football game in these adolescents, a questionnaire - based cross-sectional study was conducted. Six hundred and thirty -one amateur footballers - 465 (73.7%) males and 166 (26.3%) females in the age range of 10 - 19 years (mean age, 15.01 +/- 2.86SD) completed the questionnaire giving a response rate of 90.1%. Majority (58.8%) of the subjects was within the 10-15 years age group. Awareness of mouth-guards was claimed by 69.7% of the respondents but significantly more of them who made the claim were not using the protective device for football games (p<0.05). More boys significantly claimed the usage of mouth-guards than girls (p<0.05). In all, 59.7% agreed that wearing mouth-guard was helpful in oro-facial injury prevention during sports with significantly more boys in agreement than girls (p<0.05). About 36% of the subjects sustained one form of oro-facial trauma or the other with significant sex difference (p<0.05). Secondary schools should serve as good starting points in the campaign for use of mouth-guards for contact sports before some go into professional sports.

Language: en