Parental attitudes toward mouthguards

Abstract

An 11-item, one-page questionnaire was mailed to 1800 parents chosen at random in the Henrico County, VA public school system. Parents were asked questions such as "who should be responsible for mouthguard wear?" "what sports should require mouthguards?" and "has [their] child ever sustained an oral or facial injury?" The parental responses indicate that mouthguard enforcement is the responsibility of both parents and coaches. Of the total injuries reported, 19% were sustained in basketball, 17% in baseball, and 11% in soccer. Despite these high injury rates, however, there was a lack of perceived need for mouthguard use in these sports. When asked which sports should require a mouthguard rule, the sports that generated the most responses were, in decreasing order, football, boxing, ice hockey, wrestling, field hockey, and karate. Parents were more likely to require mouthguards for their sons than daughters, and more likely to require them for their children who participated in a mandatory mouthguard sport, a contact sport, or who had been previously injured. The authors conclude that because parents view themselves as equally responsible as coaches for maintaining mouthguard use, both groups should be targeted and approached as a possible source for the recommendation of mandatory mouthguard rules in basketball, baseball, and soccer.