ABSTRACT
Participation in sports activities, besides having many beneficial effects, often increases the risk of traumatic injury to the dental and oral tissues. The single most important device for protecting the teeth and mouth during athletic activities is the use of an intraoral mouth guard. The intention of this study was to survey 7-12 year old children participating in skating, mainly to evaluate the significance of utilization of mouth guard wear over a period of 8-10 weeks and also to determine the acceptability of the three different types of mouth guards used. The results drawn from this study showed that 13% orofacial injuries were experienced by children during skating, and irrespective of the type of mouth guard used over a period of 10 weeks, none of the skaters had experienced an oral injury and this shows a significant finding with p<0.01 (Z test for proportions). The custom mouth guard was readily accepted by the skaters and their extent of use was also high when compared to mouth formed and stock mouth guards with p value < 0.05, which is statistically significant.
ABSTRACT
Background: Water is a divine gift. People quench their thirst without questioning the source of water. But, apprehension about contaminants in municipal water supplies along with increased fear of fluorosis made bottled drinking water as one of the important tradable commodities. Objectives: The objectives of the study were to determine and compare the fluoride and bacterial contents of commercially available bottled drinking water and municipal tap water in Davangere city, Karnataka. Materials and Methods: Fifty samples of 10 categories of bottled drinking water with different batch numbers were purchased and municipal water from different sources were collected. Fluoride levels were determined by an ion-selective electrode. Water was cultured quantitatively and levels of bacteria were calculated as colony-forming units (CFUs) per milliliter. Results: Descriptive analysis of water samples for fluoride concentration was in the range of 0.07-0.33 for bottled drinking water, Bisleri showing the highest of 0.33. A comparison of the mean values of microbial count for bottled drinking water with that of municipal tap water showed no statistically significant difference, but was more than the standard levels along with the presence of fungus and maggots. Conclusion: The fluoride concentration was below the optimal level for both municipal tap water and bottled drinking water. CFUs were more than the recommended level in both municipal tap water and bottled drinking water.