The purpose of this research is to analyze athletes’ knowledge and attitudes towards mouth guard use. This research is conducted through an accessible population of the University of Bridgeport Women’s Lacrosse Team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Men’s Ice Hockey Team, and members of Norm’s Gym who agree to take part in this survey. The data collected was presented on an Excel spreadsheet that had involved several bar graphs and pie charts. The graphs display results collected from completed surveys obtained from the three populations.The problem being studied in this research determines the reasoning behind why many athletes choose to not wear mouthguards, whether males vs females are more like to utilize mouthguards, and if any of the randomly selected teams/athletes are more likely to take orofacial safety more seriously than another group. Athletes’ knowledge and attitudes toward mouth guard use was evaluated and expressed by providing athletes with a survey questionnaire to determine a multitude of factors, including how often they wear a mouth guard, and their general knowledge of the benefits of routinely wearing mouth guards during contact sport, and exercise.Results from the initial analysis revealed that all ice hockey team members and lacrosse team members use a mouth guard during their daily athletic schedules. The majority of Norm’s Gym members responded to not wearing a mouthguard during weight lifting. All participants responded positively to the need for wearing a mouth guard for effective prevention against orofacial injury. Lacrosse team members who participated responded to being required to wear a mouthguard during contact sport, while the Sound Tigers ice hockey team members and Norm’s gym members are not required to wear one. The participants who responded to regularly wearing a mouthguard indicated that they are comfortable. Those who responded to not wearing a mouth guard suggested the reasoning behind this is because they feel uncomfortable to wear routinely.
The data concluded did not support our hypothesis, which stated that although many athletes may be aware of the importance of mouth guard use, not many actually incorporate them into their daily schedules. The outcome of the study signified the idea that athletes understand the purpose of mouthguards in terms of benefits in use and choose to use them regularly during contact sport. The majority of participants, except one, indicated the use of mouth guards to be rather comfortable, while our hypothesis indicated that they would respond negatively.
The Sound Tigers Ice hockey team members who had responded indicated that they both wear custom-made mouth guards. Exactly half of the lacrosse team members responded with wearing boil-and-bite mouthguards, while the other half responded with wearing custom-made mouth guards. The results were One of the athletic members from Norm’s Gym indicated that they use a polyvinyl rubber mouth guard during weightlifting. The other participants indicated that they do not use a mouth guard during weightlifting, although they are aware that this puts them at risk of orofacial injury. Those same participants, who responded to not wearing a mouth guard also indicated that they are not comfortable, which is interesting because they do not wear them to begin with. However, these participants did reply with “yes” to the questions asking if they believe mouth guards to be beneficial or not to protecting them against orofacial injury. They also indicated that they would use a mouthguard if it was of no cost to them.The purpose of this research is to analyze athletes’ knowledge and attitudes towards mouth guard use. This research is conducted through an accessible population of the University of Bridgeport Women’s Lacrosse Team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers Men’s Ice Hockey Team, and members of Norm’s Gym who agree to take part in this survey. The data collected was presented on an Excel spreadsheet that had involved several bar graphs and pie charts. The graphs display results collected from completed surveys obtained from the three populations.
The problem being studied in this research determines the reasoning behind why many athletes choose to not wear mouthguards, whether males vs females are more like to utilize mouthguards, and if any of the randomly selected teams/athletes are more likely to take orofacial safety more seriously than another group. Athletes’ knowledge and attitudes toward mouth guard use was evaluated and expressed by providing athletes with a survey questionnaire to determine a multitude of factors, including how often they wear a mouth guard, and their general knowledge of the benefits of routinely wearing mouth guards during contact sport, and exercise. </o:p>
Results from the initial analysis revealed that all ice hockey team members and lacrosse team members use a mouth guard during their daily athletic schedules. The majority of Norm’s Gym members responded to not wearing a mouthguard during weight lifting. All participants responded positively to the need for wearing a mouth guard for effective prevention against orofacial injury. Lacrosse team members who participated responded to being required to wear a mouthguard during contact sport, while the Sound Tigers ice hockey team members and Norm’s gym members are not required to wear one. The participants who responded to regularly wearing a mouthguard indicated that they are comfortable. Those who responded to not wearing a mouth guard suggested the reasoning behind this is because they feel uncomfortable to wear routinely. </o:p>
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The data concluded did not support our hypothesis, which stated that although many athletes may be aware of the importance of mouth guard use, not many actually incorporate them into their daily schedules. The outcome of the study signified the idea that athletes understand the purpose of mouthguards in terms of benefits in use and choose to use them regularly during contact sport. The majority of participants, except one, indicated the use of mouth guards to be rather comfortable, while our hypothesis indicated that they would respond negatively. </o:p>
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The Sound Tigers Ice hockey team members who had responded indicated that they both wear custom-made mouth guards. Exactly half of the lacrosse team members responded with wearing boil-and-bite mouthguards, while the other half responded with wearing custom-made mouth guards. The results were One of the athletic members from Norm’s Gym indicated that they use a polyvinyl rubber mouth guard during weightlifting. The other participants indicated that they do not use a mouth guard during weightlifting, although they are aware that this puts them at risk of orofacial injury. Those same participants, who responded to not wearing a mouth guard also indicated that they are not comfortable, which is interesting because they do not wear them to begin with. However, these participants did reply with “yes” to the questions asking if they believe mouth guards to be beneficial or not to protecting them against orofacial injury. They also indicated that they would use a mouthguard if it was of no cost to them.</o:p>
