Mouth protection in sport in Scotland — a review

Abstract

In brief Clubs should be encouraged to appoint an honorary dentist whose job would be to ensure that all members have adequate and suitable mouth protection for their level of play. The oral health strategy for Scotland, which was published in 1995, recommends that dentists promote the use of mouth protection in sport to reduce the risk of injury.1 There is compulsory mouthguard use in some sports including ice-hockey, fencing, boxing, lacrosse and some forms of auto-cycling. In cricket, face protection appears to be compulsory for batsmen only. The use of mouth protection in the martial arts is compulsory at international level but, in the UK, the rule does not seem to be always enforced at club level. Players of contact sports, such as rugby and hockey, are considered to be more at risk of dentoalveolar injury and the governing bodies of these sports recommend that players at all levels wear mouth protection but have not made it mandatory.