Orofacial injuries in sports and use of mouthguards among university students

Aim: To evaluate the prevalence of orofacial injuries during practice of sports and the use of mouthguards by university students in the southern region of Brazil.
Methods: In this cross-sectional study, 700 undergraduates from the University of West Santa Catarina, Brazil, filled out a questionnaire with multiple-choice questions addressing social and economic status, education level of parents, orofacial injuries from sport practice, knowledge, importance and use of mouthguards. The collected data were entered into the EpiData 3.2 program, and were analyzed by descriptive statistics and the chi-square test using STATA 8.0 statistical software package with a significance level set at 5%.
Results: Out of the total number of students surveyed, 37.02% claimed to have already sustained some kind of orofacial injury. Out of these, only 9.90% sought dental assistance after trauma. The most common injuries were: bleeding 54.55%, swelling 23.72%, and dental fractures 16.21%. Among the interviewees, 19.24% had already used mouthguard and 44.89% considered its use as important.
Conclusions: The prevalence of orofacial injuries during sport activities was high in the studied sample and only few of the interviewed university students used individual protection measures to avoid these injuries.