TRANSLATIONAL AND CLINICAL MEDICINE - Georgian Medical Journal

Background
Athletes of any level are at a higher risk of trauma compared to the general population. Orofacial injuries can be extremely impactful to physical and mental health, can negatively affect performance and are a financial burden. Thus, it is important to outline risk factors that can contribute to oral health status decline and evaluate means of prophylaxis.

Methods

66 articles were reviewed, out of the originally selected 101, databases of Pubmed.gov, Scopus and Elsevier were utilized

Aim
This article aims to summarize the importance of oral health in athletes, as well as describe the means of prophylaxis and discuss the effects on performance this might have


Results
The research focused on evaluating athletes and their susceptibility to trauma and poor oral health, as well as on level of educational facilities, coaching, management staff, and on-site medical staffs’ knowledge. At least 24 articles reviewed have outlined unsatisfactory oral health status among the athletes, low levels of adherence to FDI sports dentistry guidelines, low availability of information on oral health care to athletes. Athletes exhibited unsatisfactory oral health conditions, which may affect their performance.

Conclusion
Athletes are said to have comparably bad oral health, numerous articles included have found rather high prevalence of not only dental trauma but tooth decay and gingival disease as well. Increased use of mouthguards and protective headgear is said to be enough to remedy this problem, as other studies show the problem is more complex and needs further research