OT: Mold in mouth guards (13-year-old almost loses his leg)

[Guest guest]

I wanted to share this article in case some of you have teenagers who use mouth

guards.

Gauge your guard

by: KIM ARCHER World Staff Writer

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

9/9/2009 4:48:24 AM

One

13-year-old football player nearly lost his leg to an infection

eventually linked to his mouth guard. Bacteria growing on his mouth

guard had entered his system through lesions in his mouth.

Another boy the same age had severe exercise-induced asthma, which

progressively became worse. Within two days of a severe attack,

researchers at Oklahoma State University's infectious disease lab

received the boy's mouth guard for analysis.

They determined the boy was aspirating yeast and mold spores

from his mouth guard into his respiratory tract, which set off asthma

attacks.

" Mouth guards are loaded with organisms, " says Dr. R.

Glass, who led a research study on mouth guard use at Oklahoma State

University Center for Health Sciences in Tulsa.

The study was published in the September/October issue of the journal Sports

Health: A Multidisciplinary Approach.

In this latest study, 62 Division I football players were

examined along with their mouth guards during a football season. The

study showed that guards increased the number and intensity of cuts and

abrasions in the mouth, which offer an entry point for infections that

arise out of the bacteria, yeast and fungi that collect on the mouth

guards.

" We have, in effect, invented some diseases by creating a

completely unnatural situation with these mouth guards. They create an

artificial atmosphere or environment for these organisms where they can

proliferate, " said researcher Dr. S. Conrad.

Although useful in protecting teeth, guards act much like a sponge when it comes

to bacteria, yeast and mold.

" They not only grow, but they have something to attach to so

they can form a biofilm. They can increase a million- or a billion-fold

because they're in a place where it's wet, warm and they're fed, "

Conrad said.

Guards become rough and jagged with use and lacerate the mouth tissues,

providing a portal into an athlete's vascular system.

Glass recommends sanitizing mouth guards daily with denture cleaning solutions.

But that isn't enough.

When cut in half and examined under scanning electron microscopy, mouth

guards are so porous, they look like Swiss cheese. Bacteria collect and

grow inside those pores and can't be removed.

That's not to say mouth guards don't provide critical protection, Conrad said.

" We are not against mouth guards. They're legal. They work. They're good, " he

said.

But parents should replace them at least every two weeks and clean them daily,

Glass said.

" It's that length of time when organisms get established and

form a biofilm, " he said. " That's their civilization. That's when they

completely take over. "

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