Impact of 3D-Printed and Custom Mouthguards on Speech and Oral Functions in Children Practicing Contact Sports

NCT ID: NCT06972823

Last Updated: 2025-05-15

Study Results

Results pending

The study team has not published outcome measurements, participant flow, or safety data for this trial yet. Check back later for updates.

Basic Information

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Recruitment Status

NOT_YET_RECRUITING

Clinical Phase

NA

Total Enrollment

60 participants

Study Classification

INTERVENTIONAL

Study Start Date

2025-08-31

Study Completion Date

2026-08-31

Brief Summary

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This study aims to compare the effects of traditional and 3D-printed custom-made mouthguards on speech and oral functions in pediatric cases who practice contact sports by evaluating the comfort, fit, and performance of both types of mouthguard fabrication methods. The study will be conducted on 60 children who practice contact sports, and the changes in speech, oral functions, the occlusal thickness of the mouthguards, and the cost efficiency will be assessed over a period of one year.

Detailed Description

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This randomized clinical trial will be conducted at Cairo International Stadium, enrolling healthy children aged 8 to 14 who are actively engaged in contact sports and require mouthguards for protection. Eligible participants must be cooperative and have no history of speech or neurological disorders, orthodontic treatment, or dental anomalies that may affect mouthguard adaptation. After obtaining informed consent from parents, participants will be randomly allocated in a 1:1 ratio into two groups.

Group 1 will receive traditional custom-made mouthguards fabricated from alginate impression material. Group 2 will receive 3D-printed custom-made mouthguards created from digital intraoral scans using CAD/CAM and 3D printing technology. All fittings will be adjusted for comfort, retention, and occlusal balance by the principal investigator.

The primary outcomes include changes in oral functions and speech, assessed using a validated Likert-scale questionnaire adapted from Mat Zainal et al. (2024), administered at baseline, 3 months, and 6 months. Secondary outcomes include evaluating the knowledge, attitude, and practice (KAP) toward mouthguard use using a structured questionnaire (Vignesh et al., 2023), cost efficiency via the incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER), and occlusal thickness changes using an Iwanson caliper. This trial aims to determine whether 3D-printed mouthguards provide superior or equivalent function, comfort, and cost-efficiency compared to traditional methods, potentially advancing the standards of pediatric sports dentistry.

Conditions

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Mouthguard Use Orofacial Injuries Prevention 3D Printed Mouthguard Traditional Custom-made Mouthguard Speech and Oral Functions

Study Design

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Allocation Method

RANDOMIZED

Intervention Model

PARALLEL

Participants will be randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to one of two groups: one group will receive traditional custom-made mouthguards, and the other will receive 3D-printed custom-made mouthguards. Each participant will remain in their assigned group throughout the study period, and outcomes will be assessed independently for each group.
Primary Study Purpose

PREVENTION

Blinding Strategy

DOUBLE

Participants Investigators
Blinding will be applied at multiple levels to minimize bias in this study. Since both the traditional custom-made and 3D-printed mouthguards have a similar appearance, this study will be double-blinded to both the principal investigator and the patients in each study group, thereby reducing expectation bias. A coach, who is not involved in data collection or analysis, will be responsible for distributing the mouthguards to participants, ensuring that neither the principal investigator nor the participants know which type of mouthguard is being used. Additionally, the assessors evaluating speech and oral function will remain blinded to the type of mouthguard. To further ensure objective data analysis and minimize detection and reporting bias, the statistician will also be fully blinded to group allocation.

Study Groups

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3D printed custom-made mouthguards

This arm will include participants receiving 3D printed custom mouthguards.

Group Type EXPERIMENTAL

3D printed custom-made mouthguards

Intervention Type DEVICE

Participants in the first group will receive 3D printed custom-made mouthguards

Traditional custom-made mouthguards

Participants in the second group will receive traditional custom-made mouthguards.

Group Type ACTIVE_COMPARATOR

Traditional custom-made mouthguards

Intervention Type DEVICE

Participants in the active comparator arm will receive traditional custom-made mouthguards as an intervention

Interventions

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3D printed custom-made mouthguards

Participants in the first group will receive 3D printed custom-made mouthguards

Intervention Type DEVICE

Traditional custom-made mouthguards

Participants in the active comparator arm will receive traditional custom-made mouthguards as an intervention

Intervention Type DEVICE

Eligibility Criteria

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Inclusion Criteria

* Children aged 8-14 years of both ages.
* Participants actively engaged in contact sports.
* Children who require mouthguards for protection.
* Cooperative children.

Exclusion Criteria

* Children with a history of speech or neurological disorders affecting oral function
* Parental refusal to participate.
* Children currently undergoing orthodontic treatment with fixed appliances.
* Presence of severe dental anomalies or extensive missing teeth that could interfere with mouthguard adaptation.
Minimum Eligible Age

8 Years

Maximum Eligible Age

14 Years

Eligible Sex

ALL

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Sponsors

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Cairo University

OTHER

Sponsor Role lead

Responsible Party

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yasir mohammed hassan aljadani

Master's Candidate, Department of Pediatric Dentistry, Cairo University

Responsibility Role PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

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Gihan M Abuelniel, Doctoral Degree (Professor)

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

Cairo University

Passant Nagi, Master's Degree

Role: STUDY_DIRECTOR

Cairo University

Locations

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Faculy of Dentistry, Cairo University

Cairo, , Egypt

Site Status

Countries

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Egypt

Central Contacts

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Yasir M Aljadani, Bachelor's degree of dentistry

Role: CONTACT

+201118888921

References

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Vignesh, T. S., Chinni, S. K., Anumula, L., Sannapureddy, S., Kumar, Y. P., & Rohith, V. V. S. (2023). Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices of Mouth Guards in the Prevention of Orofacial Injuries in Sports Persons-A Cross-sectional Study. Journal of Interdisciplinary Dentistry, 13(2), 84-89.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Tewari N, Kahler B, Srivastav S, Goel S. How far have we come? A historic scoping review of dental traumatology literature. Dent Traumatol. 2022 Oct;38(5):345-355. doi: 10.1111/edt.12760. Epub 2022 May 25.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 35612349 (View on PubMed)

Tanaka Y, Maeda Y, Yang TC, Ando T, Tauchi Y, Miyanaga H. Prevention of orofacial injury via the use of mouthguards among young male rugby players. Int J Sports Med. 2015 Mar;36(3):254-61. doi: 10.1055/s-0034-1390498. Epub 2014 Oct 20.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 25329428 (View on PubMed)

Sousa AM, Pinho AC, Messias A, Piedade AP. Present Status in Polymeric Mouthguards. A Future Area for Additive Manufacturing? Polymers (Basel). 2020 Jul 3;12(7):1490. doi: 10.3390/polym12071490.

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Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 19229577 (View on PubMed)

Roberts HW. Sports mouthguard overview: Materials, fabrication techniques, existing standards, and future research needs. Dent Traumatol. 2023 Apr;39(2):101-108. doi: 10.1111/edt.12809. Epub 2022 Nov 27.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 36436198 (View on PubMed)

Ntovas P, Ladia O, Kois JC, Rahiotis C, Revilla-Leon M. Digital workflow for the fabrication of custom-fit additively manufactured sports mouthguards with balanced occlusion using an optical jaw tracking system: A dental technique. J Prosthet Dent. 2024 Aug 21:S0022-3913(24)00505-5. doi: 10.1016/j.prosdent.2024.07.021. Online ahead of print.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 39174379 (View on PubMed)

Mordini L, Lee P, Lazaro R, Biagi R, Giannetti L. Sport and Dental Traumatology: Surgical Solutions and Prevention. Dent J (Basel). 2021 Mar 23;9(3):33. doi: 10.3390/dj9030033.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 33806915 (View on PubMed)

Mat Zainal MK, Liew AKC, Abdullah D, Soo E, Abdul Hamid B, Ramlee RAM. Changes in oral functions and speech when using custom-fitted mouthguards: An uncontrolled before-and-after study. Dent Traumatol. 2024 Aug;40(4):460-469. doi: 10.1111/edt.12939. Epub 2024 Mar 8.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 38459669 (View on PubMed)

Green JI. The Role of Mouthguards in Preventing and Reducing Sports-related Trauma. Prim Dent J. 2017 May 1;6(2):27-34. doi: 10.1308/205016817821281738.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 28668098 (View on PubMed)

Dias Goncalves VP, Fontes Vieira CM, Colorado Lopera HA. The production and materials of mouthguards: Conventional vs additive manufacturing - A systematic review. Heliyon. 2024 Jul 8;10(14):e34294. doi: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e34294. eCollection 2024 Jul 30.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 39092246 (View on PubMed)

Dolic O, Obradovic M, Kojic Z, Knezevic N, Trtic N, Veselinovic V, Arapovic-Savic M, Umicevic-Davidovic M, Krcic V. Traumatic Dental Injuries in Children and Adolescents from a Major Dental Clinic in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A 5-Year Retrospective Study. Medicina (Kaunas). 2024 Nov 8;60(11):1843. doi: 10.3390/medicina60111843.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 39597028 (View on PubMed)

Del Rossi G, Lisman P, Signorile J. Fabricating a better mouthguard. Part II: the effect of color on adaptation and fit. Dent Traumatol. 2008 Apr;24(2):197-200. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-9657.2007.00570.x.

Reference Type BACKGROUND
PMID: 18352924 (View on PubMed)

De Queiroz, T. S., da Cruz, B. S., Demachkia, A. M. M., Borges, A. L. S., Tribst, J. P. M., & Paes Junior, T. J. d. A. (2023). Ergonomic sports mouthguards: A narrative literature review and future perspectives. Applied Sciences, 13(20), 11353.

Reference Type BACKGROUND

Borin-Moura, L., Azambuja-Carvalho, P., Daer-de-Faria, G., Barros-Gonçalves, L., Kirst-Post, L., & Braga-Xavier, C. (2018). A 10-year retrospective study of dental trauma in permanent dentition. Revista Española de Cirugía Oral y Maxilofacial, 40(2), 65-70.

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Avgerinos S, Stamos A, Nanussi A, Engels-Deutsch M, Cantamessa S, Dartevelle JL, Unamuno E, Del Grosso F, Fritsch T, Crouzette T, Striegel M, Sanchez CC, Okshah A, Tzimpoulas N, Naka O, Kouveliotis G, Tzoutzas I, Zoidis P, Synodinos F, Loizos E, Tasopoulos T, Haughey J, Rahiotis C. Position Statement and Recommendations for Custom-Made Sport Mouthguards. Dent Traumatol. 2025 Jun;41(3):246-251. doi: 10.1111/edt.13019. Epub 2024 Nov 22.

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Reference Type BACKGROUND
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Other Identifiers

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Custom Mouthguards and Speech

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id

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