Attitudes towards the use of mouth and face guards in Swedish ice hockey: part 2. Results.

BACKGROUND/AIM: The yearly cost of sports injuries, which affects Swedish society, is estimated to 3 billion SEK (460 million USD). Injuries in ice hockey represent at least 270 million SEK (42 million USD). Despite the high number of injuries, mouth and face guards are rarely used in Swedish ice hockey. The major aim of this study was to examine the attitudes of mouth and face guards in two ice hockey clubs in Sweden (one elite and one division 3 club). A second purpose was to determine why some players use mouth and face guards, while others do not. A third goal was to present a material that ice hockey clubs could use for further discussions.

MATERIALS AND METHOD

A phenomenographic analysis of focus groups interviews.

RESULTS

The phenomenographic analysis of the data resulted in 12 categories. Within each category, issues, activities and engagement of the participants were described. Further, similarities and differences in the discussions between the elite club and the division 3 club were described. The following categories were found to engage the participants the most: 'Ice hockey is a high-velocity collision sport in which injuries are expected', 'Attitudes towards personal protection guards' and 'Suggested measures'.

CONCLUSIONS

The participants were aware of the risk of playing ice hockey, but they know little about the consequences of a dental injury. Although ice hockey players wish to protect themselves, they refuse to accept just any mouth or face guard. Through the discussions about reducing dental and jaw injuries by routine use of protection devices, many reform proposals were presented that could be useful in future discussions.