the simple blog

Okay, dental appliances are not the best for your love life.  But for many of us, nightguards are the best way to prevent damage from clenching and grinding, also known as bruxism.  For others, they also help with TMD related jaw pain.

Bruxism is basically chewing, clenching, or grinding too much.  There are many symptoms, including muscle pain (sore jaw muscles, especially in the morning), premature  tooth wear (flat or short teeth), notches in the sides of the teeth, and audible grinding noise while sleeping.  (typically reported by spouses)   Most of it occurs during sleep, which is why people are unaware of it, and unable to control it. 

If you let bruxism go untreated, you may develop sensitivity to cold,  headaches, TMD, cracked teeth, or worse.  Bruxism is made worse by metal-ceramic crowns, which wear down enamel on opposing teeth, and highly acidic diets, rich in sodas, citrus, and other enamel weakening acids.  In severe cases, the teeth are worn so badly, we have no choice but to rebuild the entire mouth, costing tens of thousands of dollars.

Bruxism is very common, and incurable.  Fortunately, it is very treatable.   The most common treatment is a dental occlusal splint, also known as a nightguard. 

 

This decidedly un-sexy mouthpiece is fitted to either your upper or lower teeth.  The inner shell is made of rubber for cushioning, and the outer shell is made of hard acrylic for durability.  It's called a splint because it binds all your teeth together into one unit.  This distributes the grinding forces over  a wider area, reducing the risk of cracking teeth.  Because the plastic is much softer than enamel, nightguards wear down the acrylic instead of your enamel.  This slows down the rate of tooth destruction.

Nightguards are sometimes covered by insurance, sometimes not.  We've noticed it's about 50:50 on our carrier list.  Coverage, when you have it, is typically pays for 50% of the fee.   They are custom made appliances, so they aren't always inexpensive, but they're always worth it.  If you can't afford a nightguard, you can always use a "boil and bite" football mouthpiece or an over the counter dental nightguard as a more economical alternative.  The fit and durability will not be as good, but some benefit is better than none.

Not everyone can tolerate nightguards, and people doing orthodontic work shouldn't use them.   And then there's the removable factor--taking any appliance in or out of your mouth at night is not romantic.  But preventing thousands of dollars of dental road down the line pays for a lot of nice getaways.  And if you leave your nightguard at home just for those special weekends, I promise I won't bust you for it.  To borrow a line from the medical advertising industry, ask your dentist if nightguards are right for you.