Mouth guards can be used in high-impact sports to protect your teeth from unwarranted damage, they can also be fabricated to be worn at night when used to relieve bruxism and protect your teeth from clenching and grinding. They are removable oral appliances that need to be worn depending on your needs and indications..
The habit of grinding jaws together during sleep is called Bruxism. You may not even realize that you grind your teeth in sleep until your partner points it out to you. The enormous pressure that your jaws and teeth experience causes your teeth to chip or fracture and the muscles of the jaw joint to go into spasm. You may experience jaw joint pain, earache, headaches, migraine, sleep disturbances, tooth tenderness and sensitivity and even worn-out teeth.
Occlusal guards may be soft or hard depending on their strength. Soft ones are meant for mild to moderate cases of bruxism while hard ones are meant for severe cases of bruxism.
Depending upon their method of fabrication, they may be stock trays, boil-and-bite or custom-made trays. While stock occlusal guards are made the one-to-fit-all measurement, boil-and-bite ones are more comfortable since they fit your teeth and gums better than stock occlusal guards. However, the best fit is got in custom-made night guards and mouth guards wherein your dentist takes specific measurements of your oral cavity and then gets your occlusal guard fabricated by a dental lab. They are the most comfortable and will start to feel natural in a few days of its wearing.
Since the occlusal guards are removable, you will need to take care of them and the following are some of the things that you will have to take care of:
Optimized by Seraphinite Accelerator