Ranalli D N
School of Dental Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Dent Clin North Am. 1991 Oct;35(4):627-45.
The evolution of rules and regulations governing the development and use of protective football equipment for the prevention of craniofacial and intraoral traumatic injuries to football players have reduced substantially the occurrence of these injuries. Protective football equipment such as helmets, facemasks, and intraoral mouthguards have undergone numerous developmental changes to improve their effectiveness in preventing traumatic injuries to the head, face, and mouth of participants in football during practice sessions as well as in game situations. Unfortunately, however, some of these types of injuries do continue to occur. Various regulatory agencies and football governing bodies have established quality performance standards for equipment and have enacted rulings for their proper use. Penalties have been assessed for rule infractions to aid in curtailing the misuse of such equipment, as occurs for example, when the helmet is used to spear tackle an opponent or when the facemask is grasped, pulled, or twisted by an opposing player. Dentists can contribute significantly to the overall well-being of their patients who participate in football by providing information and advice regarding the proper use of protective football equipment to prevent craniofacial and intraoral traumatic football-related injuries, by fabricating properly fitted mouthguards as one aspect of their total practice of dentistry, and by providing high-quality and expeditious emergency and long-term treatment subsequent to football-related intraoral traumatic injuries. In addition, dentists can contribute on a larger scale to the overall well-being of football athletes by participating in community service activities such as mouthguard days, as consultants to football teams, as team dentists, or as advisors to those interested in research and development to improve protective football equipment, and to those responsible for sponsoring more stringent regulations for player safety in football.
管理用于预防足球运动员颅面部和口腔内创伤性损伤的防护性足球装备的开发和使用的规则和规定的演变，已大幅降低了这些损伤的发生率。诸如头盔、面罩和口腔内护齿器等防护性足球装备经历了无数次的改进，以提高其在训练和比赛中预防足球参与者头部、面部和口腔创伤性损伤的有效性。然而，不幸的是，这些类型的损伤中仍有一些继续发生。各监管机构和足球管理机构已制定了装备的质量性能标准，并颁布了正确使用这些装备的规定。对违规行为已进行处罚，以帮助减少此类装备的滥用，例如，当头盔被用于撞击对手或当面罩被对方球员抓住、拉扯或扭转时。牙医可以通过提供有关正确使用防护性足球装备以预防与足球相关的颅面部和口腔内创伤性损伤的信息和建议，通过制作合适的护齿器作为其牙科整体业务的一部分，以及通过在与足球相关的口腔内创伤性损伤后提供高质量和快速的紧急及长期治疗，为参与足球运动的患者的整体健康做出重大贡献。此外，牙医可以通过参与社区服务活动，如护齿器日活动，作为足球队的顾问、队医，或作为对改进防护性足球装备的研发感兴趣者以及对负责制定更严格的足球运动员安全法规者的顾问，在更大程度上为足球运动员的整体健康做出贡献。
