Custom Night Guards: Protection for Teeth, Jaws, and Joints While You Snooze
Sleeping well is an indispensable component of full and healthy living. For many people, nighttime teeth grinding or jaw clenching-bruxism-evolve into disturbances of sleep; and worn, sensitive, painful teeth; and sometimes, a pounding headache tomorrow morning. For protecting your teeth and joints while you sleep, a night guard, when custom-fit to your mouth by your dentist, is just right.
Bruxism is a disorder characterized by clenching, grinding, or jaw muscle tension, primarily occurring at night but sometimes during the day as well. Its etiology can be caused by an assortment of potential determinants, which may range from stress, genetics, to uneven bite alignment. Over time, built-up force from bruxism can cause worn enamel, cracked or chipped teeth, as well as TMJ pain.
Symptoms include the wearing down of tooth surfaces, tight or sore jaw muscles upon waking, ringed indentations from tooth grinding on either side of the tongue, and headaches. A dentist may suspect it during exams by noting signs of excessive wear. In some instances, nighttime observation or a grinding device test could be used.
How may a night guard be helpful? A night guard is a thin, contoured mouthguard made of a hard resin material to fit the teeth like a second set of retainers. It is designed based on moulds of your teeth and evenly distributes forces from grinding or clenching across a larger surface area so as to cause lesser damage to teeth and jaw joints.
Night guards are available in both hard and soft flexibility options. While soft guards are significantly softer and easier to speak with, hard guards provide maximum protection for cases of worst grinding. Wearing a guard will shift the jaw to an open relaxed posture and avoid any contact between the teeth when you sleep. This way, risks of fractured, chipped, or cracked teeth are therefore visibly reduced.
A night guard starts by taking dental impressions of your teeth. These impressions are then used to create a stone model of your bite. From this, a night guard “shell” molded from firm plastic is then created, which matches your dental anatomy perfectly. The guard is then softly contoured, trimmed, and polished for comfort and retention.
Most dentists advise continued protection against effects of bruxism through wearing a custom-fitted night guard for life. While it does take some acclimation at first, most patients experience an end to jaw pain and headaches in just a few weeks. The grinding wears away the material over time, so guards should be replaced regularly, every 3 to 5 years. Properly fitted guards are easy to talk, breathe, and eat in while offering unmatched dental and joint safeguarding.
For severe grinding, it is typically supported at night with a daytime biting splint or jaw-positioning appliance, which helps train the muscles to relax. Botulinum, Botox, can also be injected into overactive jaw muscles in addition to a guard. Counseling can also aid in addressing psychological stress triggers that exist as well.
A mouth guard prepared by your dentist serves to protect fragile dental tissues from the forces of grinding, thereby protecting the tooth and joint structures themselves from undue wear and destruction. This just helps to preserve dental investments, while also maintaining comfort in the mandibular joints, hence fostering deep, restful sleep and a good quality of life. And if teeth grinding is disrupting your zzz’s, a fitted nighttime bite guard might be worth exploring.
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