Night Guards / Sport Guards

What is Bruxism?

Bruxism is the unconscious and involuntary habit of clenching and grinding teeth.  This means that a person with bruxism is mostly unaware of, and unable to stop the habit. It can take place at night and day. Bruxism is also related to stress and is a common problem.  Bruxism can affect the teeth, muscles and the jaw joints (TMD).

The signs and symptoms of Bruxism are that the teeth will be worn down and became shorter.  The teeth will become flattened and sometimes be worn right through the enamel to the dentin (the interior portion of you tooth), which can be very sensitive to cold and chewing.  If bruxism isn’t treated, you could grind your teeth down to the gum. Extensive wear can cause problems with the TMD (temporomandibular joint) leading to jaw pain and headaches. Bruxism can also worsen periodontal conditions such as tooth mobility and gum recession.

What is a Nightguard?

The treatment in most cases will be a nightguard.  This is an appliance worn at night and sometimes day depending on your symptoms. The nightguard will help with the habit and will aide in the prevention of worn teeth or if you are having pain in the TMD.

What is the process?

When you book an appointment and come in to our office for a nightguard, we will first decide if you need a nightguard by evaluating your wear and your symptoms.  If your doctor decides you need a nightguard, we will take an upper and a lower impression. These models will be sent out to our special lab for the nightguard to be fabricated. Which takes about a week.

When you come back to have the nightguard fitted, we will check the fit and check your bite pattern and adjust accordingly. 

Sports Guards

For the athletes in your family, we recommend that everyone wears a sports guard to protect his/her teeth, jaw, lips, cheeks and gums from serious injury.  

When purchasing a mouth guard for sports, remember not all sports guards are treated equally.  The amount of protection a mouth guard provides is based on the quality of the mouth guard placed in the mouth.   

A typical off-the-shelf mouth guard is generally loose and does not offer full protection.  There are mouth guards that can be custom-fitted at home through a heat and set method, but these also do not provide full protection.  A custom-made mouth guard from a dentist office offers full protection for the entire mouth and can be ultra-thin so as not to be a hindrance or nuisance.  

TMD Treatment (temporomandibular joint disorder)

TMD is dysfunction of the jaw muscles and joints. We can treat TMD with pain medication, night guards, and jaw exercises – depending on the individual diagnosis.