After extensive therapy at my dentist, my teeth and gums are now in stellar shape. The dental hygenist goes into ecstasies at how healthy my mouth is now.
Last visit I mentioned that one of my back molars was sensitive, and I that I noticed it most when I ate something sweet. She (with her 40 years experience) diagnosed I was grinding my teeth at night, and the dentist confirmed it, so I got fitted for a mouth guard.
This tiny piece of plastic fits over my bottom front two teeth and cost $600. ( :eek: ). I guess it’s working, I’ve only worn it the past two nights, but I’ve noticed my lips are chapped in the morning and it takes a little getting used to having this foreign object in my mouth. I realized the first night I was trying to jut my lower jaw forward so my top teeth wouldn’t hit it, so I made myself relax and let my top teeth rest on the little “beak” thing that sticks out.
I have one that goes on my top teeth. I don’t do a good job of wearing it consistently, though. It’s not so much that it’s uncomfortable, but that I’m too lazy to clean it regularly and then it gets all gross. When I do managed to use it, I have a sleep in a slightly different position than normal so that my teeth aren’t clenched together. I don’t have trouble with chapped lips, but I do usually wake up with an impression of the night guard on the insides of my lips. Good luck with yours!
I wear mine on my top teeth (my husband has one too; we’re very romantic). It took me a while to get used to it. I have a tendency to gag, so that bothered me, but I got used to it in a couple of weeks. I wear it every night, usually. I burned the top of my mouth recently and couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t healing, until I noticed that the mouth guard was pushing against the skin there. So it’s out until I heal.
It seems to be helping; the dentist hasn’t been berating me for grinding my teeth at night. I keep it clean by rinsing it every morning and periodically brushing it with my toothbrush and toothpaste, as per my dentist’s recommendation.
That’s how my dentist told me to clean it. I even have a little box to keep it in. I was surprised when the hygenist told me most adults grind their teeth at night…she has one, so does her assistant.
I have to wear one. However I didn’t want to pay the $400 bucks so I just went and bought the boil’n’bite versions that football players use. Seems to work fine enough.
Me too. I even started a thread about it, when I got it. I still don’t wear it regularly, only when I know that I’ve been clenching/grinding especially bad.
Mine covers all of my top teeth. It really isn’t comfortable at all.
I have one that I wear on the bottom. My dentist recommended it as preventive care, so I shelled out the $500. You get used to it. I had to go and get it adjusted a month later and my dentist insists on seeing me with it at each check-up, both to make sure the fit is right as well as to give it an ultrasound cleaning.
I like it okay. I still grind, but I don’t wake up with headaches anymore, and I seem to be doing less damage to my teeth. It also acts sort of as a retainer, preventing shifting of the teeth. But it makes me talk funny, so I don’t put it in until right before I’m ready to go to sleep. And my main problem with it is that my body has adjusted a bit to accommodate it, and so now I tend to sleep with my mouth open, which gives me hellacious morning breath and drooly pillows. Yucko.
One weird thing: all the grinding used to give me nasty dreams about my teeth shattering. Now I have dreams about destroying my night guard!
I got one some time ago that fits just on the upper teeth. It keeps me from clenching my jaw while asleep; that action had been giving me terrible pain a la TMJ syndrome. I just put it in water during the day, rinse it off, clean the holder, repeat.
I’ve worn one since I was 19 and my dentist noticed that I’d worn down the tip of a cuspid from constant tooth grinding. Mine fits tightly over my top teeth, and if I sleep more than a night without it, my teeth will actually start to change placement. Very unpleasant. I much prefer wearing my nightguard to going without. My teeth stop aching, don’t go dull, and don’t move around. My jaw doesn’t ache constantly, and my head doesn’t hurt - or at least, my head doesn’t hurt from that.
Does it really stop the clenching and not just the grinding? I’m only asking because I would love to be able to stop clenching–I’ve got a touch of the TMJ myself and it can be really painful. How does it stop the jaw from working itself when you’re asleep?
Another Doper chiming in with a guard for the upper teeth. Had it about a year or so. Took a little while before it became part of the usual nighttime routine. So I started out only wearing it about 5 of 7 nights a week.
With mine, I’m to soak it in warm/hot water for about 30 seconds before I put it in. This helps soften it up, so it fits really snug, and doesn’t induce any pressure. This is pretty key for mine. If I don’t soften it up, it can be a bit uncomfortable when it first goes in.
I try to clean mine (rinse every morning, brush with brush and toothpaste periodically), but it is still taking on some interesting colors.
I’m finding it a little hard to get used to. My tongue doesn’t quite know where to go, and I found the most relaxing position was lying flat on my back, but that’s not the way I sleep.
I have one because the stupid Peace Corps made me get one. (Fortunately my insurance covered most of it - holy shit, ivylass!) Anyway, I absolutely hate it and never wear it. I can’t imagine how it could stop me from clenching, anyway. (I’m not a grinder.)
fuffle: My ENT prescribed me muscle relaxants to help with the clenching. My TMJ isn’t exactly perfect, but they definitely help. If I forget to take them for a couple nights in a row, I get terrible headaches.
I have one but it’s not for grinding, it’s for my TMJD. It fits over my top teeth and the roof of my mouth, and the front part has a huge bulge that keeps my lower jaw from slipping backwards while I sleep. When it’s in, unless my mouth is wide open there’s no way for my jaw to slip back.
I’ve been wearing night appliance type things for about 10 years now so I actually like it. It’s like a pacifier for me - can’t sleep without it. Sometimes I do though, like if my nose is completely stuffed up and I really need to breathe out of my mouth.
Mine’s blue, glows in the dark and has a smiley face on the part that covers my palate
(oh and yes, do keep it clean. Mine’s pretty rank as I don’t clean it enough. Even when I DO clean it, I still wake up all stinky. And I drool a lot.)
I have one for my top teeth, for grinding. I have one bottom molar that cracked in half front to back and so far is hanging on with a filling only, but it’s sensitive to hot and cold and that’s supposed to be because of the grinding.
I got mine through the dentist for $300. Unfortunately I am too lazy to wear it like I should.
A friend did that; hundreds of dollars spent, and she bit right through the thing. My dentist said to make sure you push the guard on with your fingers; never push it onto your teeth by biting it, because it could break.
And it does help to soak it in hot water for 30 seconds; makes it a little more pliable so it’s more comfortable going on your teeth.
