Determinants for traumatic orofacial injuries in sport: Extrinsic factors in a scoping review

Sports practices carry a risk for orofacial injuries and, to avoid them, preventive measures are necessary. The aim of this study was to investigate a web of extrinsic determinants for orofacial trauma in sports.

Through a scoping review, eight extrinsic risk factors for sports-related orofacial trauma emerged from the thematic analysis. These were sports modality, sports philosophy, competition rules, level of competition, accessory equipment, environmental conditions, acting regimen, pitch conditions, and human resources. The data collection was conducted on seven databases, using terms based on health science descriptors and keywords related to orofacial trauma and sports.

From the 1155 articles found, 157 were selected based on eligibility criteria and classified according to the mentioned factors. After the full reading of the articles, the most cited risk factor was sports modality while acting regimen and environmental factors were the least mentioned. Therefore, a scheme following the web of determinants was constructed with the purpose of establishing a risk profile, which was based on the interactions between the determinants and on the frequency that they were mentioned as contributors to injury. From this, it was observed that each traumatic event is possibly a result of the interrelationships among the eight suggested determinants.

Sports modality was the most cited extrinsic determinant observed in the literature, while environmental conditions and acting regimen were the least cited. In addition, more than establishing the determinants, it is necessary to comprehend how they relate, once preventive strategies should intercede on these relations, to help reduce sports injuries.