Oral health status, on-ice and off-ice test performance, and match performance in elite male ice hockey players: a pilot study

Introduction Oral health status (OH) seems to be relevant for the overall health status and common physical performance (PP). Aim: The aim was to explore the associations between OH, days of absence (due to illness and injury), parameters of on-ice and off-ice performance diagnostic, and the match performance (MP) over three seasons. Methods Twenty male players (age: 27.7 ± 3.6 years; range: 20–34 years; 2 goalies, 7 defenders, and 11 forwards) from a third league professional ice hockey team were investigated regarding several dental parameters (DMFT, PSI, API, and PBI) by a calibrated examiner. The PP diagnostic contains the ice hockey-specific complex test (IHCT), strength-endurance tests (bench press, plank), and endurance tests on bike (PWC 170, 30 min all-out test) as well as the measurement of postural stability and regulation using posturography. Furthermore, the number of sick days and the MP were collected and assessed over three seasons. Results We could not find any relevant ( r > 0.5) correlations between days of absence and the above-mentioned independent variables. A relevant association was found between PSI and penalty times [ r = 0.46; 95% CI = (−0.04; 0.78)]. The match performance score was associated with the IHCT total time [ r = −0.55; 95% CI = (−0.82; −0.07)], especially with transition without puck [ r = −0.62; 95% CI = (−0.85; −0.18)]. Only one player (5%) reported that oral health had ever had a negative impact on his physical performance. This player had 124 days of absence compared with an average of 58 days for all other players. Discussion In the framework of this study, dental health and injury prevention did not correlate with each other. Overall, the dental health of the German ice hockey sample examined could be rated above comparable averages. The test and match data once again prove the IHCT to be a suitable assessment tool.