2020, Number 3
Dentistry applied to sport, a necessity for the athlete
Full text
Language: English/Spanish [Versión en español]
References: 2
Page: 176-178
PDF size: 67.17 Kb.
July 24th, 2020, the National Stadium of Tokyo, Japan, should have been the day when it would become the epicenter of the Olympic Games, where a tumult of athletes from various sports disciplines and many parts of the world would gather to dispute and obtain the glory, that since 776 BC were held in the Villa of Olympia, Greece, within the sanctuary of the god Zeus (although in 1896 began those of the modern era). However, these sporting events in Tokyo were postponed for the following year (July 23, 2021). In 124 years, they had never been postponed, only in 1916, 1940 and, 1944 they were canceled due to the war conflicts of World War I, and World War II. But the emergence in 2019, in Wuhan, China, of a new virus belongs to the coronavirus family (SARS-CoV-2), and the disease (COVID-19) caused by this virus, which spread throughout the world causing a pandemic, conditioned this postponement, making this sporting event be remembered in history not only because of the expectation of breaking athletic records.
It is well known, and scientific evidence supports it, that through sports practice, exercise, or physical activity it is possible to achieve an optimal state of physical, psychological, and social health (if you do not suffer an injury), this is known as Sports Health. Sports Health aims to promote recreational and competitive exercise without competition and performance is the most important issue, but the contribution of these activities to the health of the human being. Sports medicine is the specialty whose objective is the diagnosis and management of injuries and the promotion of health in the general population through physical activity, exercise, or sport, besides the fact that it is interdisciplinary since several specialties and other sciences integrate it. Within the sports activities, it is evident the importance of specialties such as Nutrition, Cardiology, or Orthopaedics to mention a few. Dentistry Applied to Sports is the medical specialty that addresses the study, review, control, prevention, and treatment not only of dental or oral and facial injuries (including those that cause concussions), but it is also involved in the analysis related to anthropo-cephalographic measurements that allow the identification of possible talented athletes. This discipline also should disseminate and provide new information and knowledge related to stomatological health and sports, applied in the world of sports competition in both amateur and professional fields. It is also responsible for maintaining control and information on pharmacology that could affect performance or prohibited substances in competitions. There are a huge number of scientific publications that refer to dentistry and sports activities, but most of these are primarily focused on determining or describing the epidemiology of injuries, trauma, or fractures afflicting dental organs or maxillofacial area, related to certain sports disciplines, especially those involving contact sports activities. Other authors have devoted themselves to publishing on the prevention of these types of injuries.
There is a long history in the scientific literature on these topics and one of the first references that made mention of the not yet mentioned Dentistry Applied to Sports focused on the manufacture of mouthguards (XIX century); however, and due to the interest in the oral needs of athletes, in 1983 in San Antonio Texas that the Academy of Sports Dentistry was founded. Academy of Sports Dentistry is integrated by stomatologists, physicians, coaches and physical trainers, teachers, and active or retired athletes. This academy also has a close relationship with the American Dental Association. Some countries have their associations dedicated to this field.
Although there is already an abundant bibliography on this specialty, it is still not well known within the integral medical field of athletes, limiting the integration of a professional in this field in the integral medical evaluation team. Dentistry Applied to Sport still seems not to be properly valued as a science that ultimately contributes significantly to the athlete's performance and is still distanced by other health disciplines, there are few professionals interested in this area of health, into study to increase this knowledge and disseminate it through scientific literature. It has also been shown that athletes do not know much about this discipline: Dentistry Applied to Sport.
REFERENCES
AFFILIATIONS
1 Clínica de Detección y Diagnóstico Automatizado (CLIDDA). Instituto de Seguridad y Servicios Sociales de los Trabajadores del Estado (ISSSTE). Ciudad de México, México.
2 Hospital General Regional No. 1 del Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social (IMSS). Cuernavaca, Morelos, México.
CORRESPONDENCE
Alfredo Guzmán-Mora. E-mail: el_navegante@hotmail.com