• Journal of Dental Rehabilitation and Applied Science
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• v.29 no.1
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• pp.1-9
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• 2013

This study examined the effects of the occlusal stability and a partial coverage mouthguard on physical fitness and motor capacity to determine the importance of the occlusal stability as a possible action mechanism of mouthguards on physical performance. Twenty physical education students were included for measurements of their handgrip strength, back strength, whole body reaction time, flexibility, sidestep test, stork stand test and jumping test according to the following 5 different occlusal conditions: mouth closed position without a mouthguard, with a full coverage mouthguard, with a right partial coverage mouthguard, with a left partial coverage mouthguard and with anterior partial mouthguard. The results revealed no significant difference in any of the measured physical factors between the occlusal conditions with and without a full-coverage mouthguard. On the other hand, a significant difference was observed in whole body reaction between the occlusal conditions with and without the partial coverage mouthguards. Therefore, isokinetic muscle tests on both knee joints and the Wingate anaerobic power test should be performed under the following five occlusal conditions: with or without full-coverage maxillary custom-made mouthguard, with a unilateral right or left partial-coverage maxillary mouthguard and with an anterior partial-coverage maxillary mouthguard. These results suggest that the partial coverage mouthguard had a short-term beneficial effect on agility rather than full coverage mouthguard.