How a Custom Night Guard Protects Your Teeth From Grinding [Video Explanation]

A night guard, also known as a bite guard, is an oral appliance that you wear over your teeth at night. This tray fits over your smile, protecting your enamel from damage. Most often, this damage comes from bruxism, or teeth grinding, which can be a result of stress, TMJ disorder, or even misalignments! But with a night guard in place, you can prevent your teeth from grinding against one another. Instead, your teeth will make contact with our comfortable, soft inner liner, while the harder, outer shell protects your smile.

Why Use a Night Guard?

A night guard is necessary when you clench and grind your teeth in your sleep. While you may not notice the habit at first, there may eventually be signs to look out for, including:

• Jaw pain
• Morning headaches
• Flattened teeth
• Tooth sensitivity

Bruxism can have many causes as well, such as:

• Persistent Stress: The more stressed you are, the more likely you are to be clenching or grinding your teeth. While this doesn’t occur to everyone, enough stress can cause patients to unconsciously tense up in their sleep.
• TMJ problems: The temporomandibular joint (TMJ) is a sort of natural hinge that connects your jaw to your skull. When that hinge is under intense pressure, it can cause pain and stress in your TMJ. TMJ Disorder and bruxism often go hand in hand, with each exacerbating the other.
• Bite misalignment: When your teeth don’t line up the way they should, it can create grinding and clenching issues. Any abnormal bite may cause your jaw to shift around at night as you subconsciously try to find a comfortable resting position.

A night guard or bite guard helps protect your teeth from bruxism. These trays distribute the stress of your clenching over a broader area, preventing your bite from damaging your enamel. Think of it like the way a snowshoe evenly distributes your weight on snow!

If you have a bruxing habit and want any sort of dental work, we really encourage you to consider a bite guard. Implants, crowns, and veneers are no match for teeth grinding, and you will need a guard to protect them at night.

Choosing a Night Guard at St. Apollonia

Nowadays, there are bite guards that you can buy over the counter. Typically, these guards are “self-fit”, meaning that they mold around your teeth to fit your specific bite.

To mold over-the-counter night guards, you simply boil them in hot water (giving them the nickname: Boil-and-Bite Guards) to make them more malleable. Then, try them on and bite down to make them mold to your teeth!

However, St. Apollonia recommends going with a custom-crafted appliance, rather than an over-the-counter guard. Usually, these boil-and-bite night guards are soft and give a bit when you bite. But this isn’t actually what you want in a night guard. With soft bite guards, your teeth can really sink into the material, which may make clenching worse.

In contrast, we provide custom-crafted night guards that are professionally made! These trays aren’t only molded to your teeth; they also have a hard exterior to protect them. While the inside of the appliance is soft and comfortable, the outside is a harder shell.

With our custom night guards, we help protect your smile and any restorations, such as crowns, dental implants, or veneers.

Protect Your Smile in Sterling Heights, MI

Night guards are an important oral appliance that many patients need. Whenever bruxism may affect the strength or health of your teeth or any dental work in your mouth, these guards are necessary to keep your smile safe. St Apollonia Dental offers custom appliances that fit over your smile perfectly, providing a soft interior and a protective outer layer. And when it comes to unconscious teeth grinding or clenching, a bite guard is essential to keep your teeth intact.

Book a free consultation in Sterling Heights, MI, to learn if you need a night guard!

Follow us on social media to explore our restorative dental care treatments.