NCT04010500

Speech Performance of Rugby Players When Using Different Types of Mouthguard

• Status: Completed
• Phase: N/A
• Study type: Interventional
• Enrollment: 30 (actual)
• Sponsor: Amy Liew · Academic / Other
• Sex: Female
• Age: 18 Years
• Healthy volunteers: Accepted

Summary

Participation in contact sports is linked to an increased risk of dental injuries. To reduce the risk and severity of sports-related dental injuries, mouthguards are often recommended to be worn during training and competition. However, athletes often complain that they cannot talk properly when using mouthguards. It is hypothesized that speech performance differs when using different types of mouthguards. A group of female national rugby players will be asked to pronounce four Malay words with plosive sounds (/p/, /b/, /d/ and /t/) repeatedly in three conditions: (i) when not using any mouthguard, (ii) when using 'boil and bite' mouthguard, and (iii) when using custom-fitted mouthguard. The sounds will be recorded for spectrographic analysis. The difference in mean voice onset time between conditions will be assessed.

Conditions

• Speech

Interventions

Type	Name	Description
DEVICE	no mouthguard	Control (not using mouthguard)
DEVICE	'boil and bite' mouthguard	KHZ058 Bicolor Mouth Guard (Shenzhen Kanghao Industrial Co. Ltd, China) will be immersed in a bowl of hot water (about 80 °C). After 50 seconds, the softened sheet will be fitted on the maxillary arch of the participant. The participant will then bite down to ensure the mouthguard stay firmly on the maxilla. After that, the mouthguard will be removed and immersed in cold water to retain its shape.
DEVICE	custom-fitted mouthguard	The custom-fitted mouthguards will be constructed using the dual laminated technique with two layers of ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA) thermoplastic sheets (Dentsply International Raintree Essix, Court East Sarasota, USA).

Timeline

• Start date: 2018-05-18
• Primary completion: 2018-12-31
• Completion: 2018-12-31
• First posted: 2019-07-08
• Last updated: 2019-07-08

Locations

1 site across 1 country: Malaysia