Introduction: Strength, coordination, and endurance in sports are determined by a variety of factors. One way of improving certain factors could be performance-optimizing occlusal splints (OS).
Aim: This systematic review addresses the question of whether OS have a significant influence on muscle strength, coordination, or endurance.
Material and methods: Literature research was conducted in the electronic databases PubMed/MEDLINE and Scopus. After careful screening, 12 recent publications were included.
Results: OS did not lead to a deterioration in athletic performance in any case. However, the positive effects were not statistically significant and/or could not be clearly attributed to OS. Significant positive correlations between OS and athletic performance were documented in 4 of the 12 studies.
Clinical relevance: OS have no statistically verifiable positive effect on the performance of athletes. However, they also show no negative effects. Potential benefits could be relevant for top athletes who need to exploit performance peaks in competition and thus optimize their performance.
Keywords: occlusal splint, athletic performance, performance optimization
