Glasgow 2014 Continued »
John with Northern Irish gold medallist Paddy Barnes
stitching and gluing – Michael not only got through the medical but also through his final without the cut reopening (Fig 2). On the dental front we also encountered
cuts. These mostly occurred inside the lip and were due to poorly fitting mouth- guards. An example of this is shown in Figs 3 and 4. The mouthguard worn by the boxer when he experienced the cut, was a boil and bite and was distorted, causing a rough edge in the area where the cut was sustained. After the occurrence of these cuts and
with the number of mouthguards that came out of the mouth during bouts, we decided to carry out a study into the type of mouthguards worn by the boxers competing at the quarter final stage of the competition. Surprisingly, at this stage of a major tournament, only 5ı per cent of the ı03 boxers in the study wore a custom-fitted mouthguard. Even though mouthguards are compulsory in boxing and the fact that they had access to a free custom fit mouthguard at the Athletes’ Village for the previous ı0 days before, the study shows there was a serious lack
of knowledge of the different types of mouthguards available and the impor-
tant values of a good mouthguard. This could be something we find in Gaelic
football players over the next few years – that, even through it is now compulsory to wear a mouthguard, injuries may still occur due to poor mouthguards being worn. From the experience of the dental injuries seen by the dental team at Glasgow 20ı4, it is clear that there is a need for dentists to continue to educate athletes and sports people on the need to wear a mouthguard and the importance of wearing a custom-fitted, pressurised, thermo-formed, laminated mouthguard for prevention of dental and orofacial trauma. The finals of the boxing competition
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Dr John Haughey graduated from Queens University Belfast in 2006 and completed the Sports Dentistry postgrad cert at UCL Eastman. He is the GPA sports dentistry advisor, chief dental officer of Vhi Dental and was a field of play dentist at London Olympics 2012 and Commonwealth Games Glasgow 2014.
took place in the SECC Hydro with a capacity of ı2,500. The atmosphere was electric and it rounded of a fantastic expe- rience. With nine boxers from Northern Ireland getting medals and four making it to the finals, it made it an even greater occasion. I would highly recommend any dentist to get involved in sports dentist opportunities.
Ireland’s Dental magazine 27
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