Résumé
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.