Splinters & Fragments

We know wearing mouthguards during sports is a good practice, and that not all mouthguards are alike. But which ones are the best, and how are we to rate them? This article proposes a 10 grade scale for sports mouthguards, taking into account the type of material, the age of the mouthguard and whether it is custom made, stock, or “boil and bite”. Now, the next steps are to create a simple chart that can be disseminated to dentists, physicians, coaches, and players so that the scale can be put into widespread use. Patrick DG, van Noort R, Found MS. Scale of protection and the various types of sports mouthguard.

Another recent article examines the models used to describe the etiology of sports injuries by focusing on anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injuries. These can be described on the level of joint and tissue biomechanics, whole body biomechanics, via the behavior of the individual athlete and opponent, or within the playing situation. For each level, one can detail the elements and factors involved that “created” the injury, whether the shear forces on the joint, the speed of the impact, the technical foul, or …