What is a Night Guard?
A night guard is a retainer-like plastic that can either be hard or soft, used for patients with bruxism. Bruxism is a condition mainly caused by stress. Individuals grind, gnash, or clench their teeth during sleep, causing severe headaches.
A night guard is worn on either the top or bottom set of teeth, covering the biting surfaces. However, each person has different teeth patterns, so night guards need to be custom-made. When the night guard is custom-made, they are molded to fit the patient's teeth, preventing discomfort and bulkiness.
night guard every night if your bruxism symptoms are mild to prevent them from worsening.
To learn more about what a night guard is, read our blog which gives more details!
What Does a Night Guard Do?
Did you know that you can use a force of up to 250 pounds when biting down when you grind your teeth? So it should not be surprising that it can chip, wear down, or even break teeth, resulting in major oral problems like enamel loss, sensitivity, and a higher risk of tooth decay.
This is where night guards come in.
Do Night Guards Work Against Bruxism?
As mentioned before, night guards prevent bruxism, where you abnormally clench your jaw or grind your teeth. There are two types of bruxism:
- Nocturnal bruxism: Teeth grinding occurs while you're asleep
- Diurnal bruxism: Teeth grinding while you're awake
Wearing a night guard will prevent bruxism's severe, painful symptoms, such as jaw pain. If not treated, bruxism can lead to temporomandibular joint disorder (TMJ), which occurs when your jaw joint is misaligned.
Wearing a custom-made night guard will help relieve the symptoms while asleep by relaxing your jaw. At the same time, night guards prevent you from grinding your teeth by providing a protective barrier between your teeth.
Research suggests that although hard and soft night guards are effective in treating TMJ, soft night guards were more effective after 4 months of using them. In another study, just like soft night guards, hard night guards also lowered jaw muscle activity for people with bruxism.
This raises another question: do night guards work?
In other research, it was discovered that soft night guards were more successful than hard night guards because soft night guard users were more likely to experience improvement and were more eager to continue their treatment.
How Long Does it Take for a Night Guard to Work?
While a night guard may initially require adjusting, most patients will be entirely accustomed to their night guard after only a few weeks. Without the night guard, many patients will even get to the point where they start to feel uncomfortable and have trouble falling asleep.
WatchMyMouth allows patients to order the night guard online and deliver them to their door. Follow these steps to get your custom-made night guard delivered to your doorstep:
- Choose the night guard you want from our wide selection. Our frequently asked questions section will give you more information if you struggle to make the right selection.
- After completing the online order, we will send you a dental impression kit straight to your door!
- Follow the easy-to-use instructions to ensure you get a perfect dental impression of your teeth.
- Once satisfied with your teeth impression, please send it to us in the prepaid envelope provided to you with the kit.
- We will custom-make your night guard from the impression we receive from you and have it delivered to you.
Custom Made, Just For You
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Custom-Made Night Guards Delivered to Your Door
If you're suffering from any of the symptoms we have mentioned, you may need a night guard to help protect your teeth. WatchMyMouth provides affordable, high-quality night guards for every mouth! As a result, you can avoid dentist visits and the long queues associated with a dental appointment. You can also avoid visiting a dental lab for your night guard.
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Here at WatchMyMouth, we provide an affordable solution for our customers with a custom-made mouthguard that is perfectly molded to the shape of your teeth. Contact us for more information and take the step to care for your teeth today!
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