Prevalence of dental trauma in individuals with special needs participating in local Special Olympics games

Abstract

The Special Olympics Special Smiles (SOSS) Program provides oral health screening and data collection for athletes with intellectual disabilities who participate in Special Olympics events. This study evaluated the prevalence and severity of dental trauma among Special Olympics athletes with intellectual disabilities who participated in the 2016 Israeli Special Olympics games. A free voluntary dental examination was offered to all participating athletes. The examination was performed by volunteer dentists who completed a standard SOSS examination form, which included questions on oral health status and evidence of dental trauma in the anterior teeth. The dental traumas were categorized by a modified clinical version of the Ellis classification for dental traumas, and they were combined into three main categories according to their severity. Chi-square analysis was used to find differences between gender and age in regard to the prevalence of dental trauma. The sample consisted of 249 athletes with intellectual disabilities aged 10-65 years (mean 29.2±11.24). The prevalence of dental trauma was 27.3%, of which 9.64% were categorized as mild and 17.67% as severe. Most of the traumas (94%) involved the maxillary incisors. The relatively high prevalence of dental trauma in special needs athletes revealed by this study's findings supports the need for using preventive measures, such as mouth guards, during sport activities.