The Prophylactic Effect of Toothguard in Prevention of Dental Trauma during Laryngoscopy in Patients Undergoing General Anesthesia

Dental trauma during general anesthesia is common and is the most frequent complication of endotracheal intubation. The purpose of this study was to evaluate dental trauma in laryngoscope and prophylactic effect of toothguard on prevention in patients undergoing general aesthesia. In this clinical trial study approved by ethical committee of Mashhad University of Medical Sciences 240 patients undergoing general anesthesia and tracheal intubation (120 patients with toothguard and 120 patients without toothguard) were studied. In preoperative and postoperative management medical history was obtained and physical examination was performed. Variables in this study were age sex preoperative and postoperative dental examinations and mallampathi and laryngoscopy scores. Data were analyzed by Fisher's exact test. The level of significance was set at 0.05. Dental injury was 0.8% frequent in tooth guard group and 5.8% in without toothguard group (P=0.02). There was a significant difference in dental trauma in patients with displaced tooth between the two groups (P=0.013). Results showed that in patients with mallampathi and laryogoscopy scores of III or IV dental trauma was more frequent in patients without toothguard (P=0.03 and 0.04 respectively). Dental shields are useful to reduce the force applied to the teeth and potentially reduce the probability of tooth damage during laryngoscopy in patients with difficult intubation and mallampathi and larynogoscopy scores of III and IV.