Mouth protectors and oral trauma: a study of adolescent football players.

A total of 754 junior high school and high school football players from the Birmingham, AL, area were studied to determine the extent of sports-related oral trauma among players. More than half the oral injuries and more than a third of the concussions were reported in sports other than football. Basketball and baseball players had a high prevalence of hard tissue oral trauma with virtually none of the players wearing mouth protectors. The results of this study indicate that current mouth protector designs are helpful in preventing hard tissue trauma, yet additional soft tissue protection is indicated in football mouth protector design.