Abstract

Objective: The perception of Nigerian athletes of the use of mouth guards to prevent the stresses of sports injuries was examined using psychological, sociological, and physical stress variables.

Methods: The descriptive survey research design was used in this study. Participants (n = 333) were selected using the purposive random sampling technique and data were collected using the 4 point Likert type instrument. The coefficient α was used to determine the reliability of the instrument with r = 0.79 for psychological, r = 0.66 for physical, and r = 0.74 for sociological stress.

Results: The result reveals that female athletes perceived the use of mouth guards as being more important to prevent the stresses of sports injuries than male athletes, while athletes who had used mouth guards for longer periods also perceived them as being more important to prevent the stresses of sports injuries compared to those who had used them less. The result also revealed a significant difference (p<0.05) among the various sport groups as independent variables on the psychological and physical stress variables. Scheffé post hoc analysis was used to identify the group where significant difference was found.

Conclusions: The study concluded that since the impact of injury is perceived to affect the cognitive function of athletes, athletes should be educated on the use of mouth guards in order to reduce the incidence of oral and dental injuries to the barest minimum.