Dentist-fitted mouthguards may help prevent severe concussions in college football players
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Key takeaways:
- College football players wearing dentist-fitted mouthguards had less severe concussions than those wearing self-fitted mouthguards.
- More research is needed on this topic in youth and high school football.
WASHINGTON — Results presented here showed that college football players who wore dentist-fitted mouthguards had a lower incidence of severe concussions and faster return to sport compared with those who wore self-fitted mouthguards.
“We found a significant decrease in the severity of concussion with dentist-fitted mouthguards. This may reflect more optimal fit and fabrication, translating to less severity and more expedient return to play. Hopefully, these findings may lead to conversation and further research as one variable to reconsider,” Michael C. Meyers, PhD, FACSM, said in his presentation at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine Annual Meeting.
In a retrospective analysis, Meyers and colleagues evaluated the association between mouthguard type and concussion severity among college football players from 40 universities during 16 seasons. Investigators categorized mouthguards as either dentist-fitted or self-fitted and categorized the severity of concussion as either simple with a brief recovery (7-10 days loss of play) or complex with a prolonged recovery (more than 10 days loss of play).
Researchers found 708 concussions occurred in 2,332 Football Bowl Subdivision games between 2006 and 2021. Of these concussions, 589 were categorized as simple with brief recovery.
“Multivariate analysis indicated a significant MANOVA effect by concussion severity between the mouthguard groups,” Meyers said. Researchers found a significantly lower incidence of complex concussions with prolonged recovery for athletes who wore a dentist-fitted mouthguard vs. athletes who wore self-fitted mouthguards.
In addition, Meyers said there was no significant difference in players’ concussion severity regarding different playing surfaces, and that concussion incidence was lower and less severe on both artificial turf and natural grass than initially perceived.
“All our findings are only generalizable to this level of competition,” he said. “Further research is warranted at the high school and youth level, where over 90% of the mouthguards are self-fitted.”
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Meyers MC, et al. Paper 60. Presented at: American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine Annual Meeting; July 12-16, 2023; Washington, D.C.
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