@article{ref1,
title="Prevalence of dental trauma in individuals with special needs participating in local Special Olympics games",
journal="Special Care in Dentistry",
year="2019",
author="Dagon, Nurit and Blumer, Sigalit and Peretz, Benjamin and Ratson, Tal",
volume="39",
number="1",
pages="34-38",
abstract="OBJECTIVES: 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. <br><br>AIM: 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. <br><br>METHODS: 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. <br><br>RESULTS: 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. <br><br>CONCLUSIONS: 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.<br><br>© 2018 Special Care Dentistry Association and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0275-1879",
doi="10.1111/scd.12343",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/scd.12343"
}