For years my dentist and I have been talking about how I grind my teeth as the excessive wear reveals. We assume I must do it at night because I can’t catch myself doing it too much during the day.
He has suggested a football mouth guard as a quick/cheap alternative to a $500 custom made device.
I finally got one and have been wearing it at night for a week or so. No problems at all… in fact, it may help me sleep better. I wish I could tell that it is accomplishing the goal but I doubt that I ever will be able to.
If you don’t have many fillings, grinding your teeth will eventually chip off corners, or possibly worse. If you do have fillings, they’re going to crack and crumble and have to be replaced. If the hole they came out of is already too big to be redrilled, then you’ll get crowns. They’re expensive.
Oh, the possibly worse? I cracked one tooth longitudinally. It got infected, with a bulge that had to be lanced way up in the roof of my mouth. That does not, btw, taste good.
They said it was possible to try a root canal, but that it might not work. Also, that because it was the far back tooth, it could be pulled without having to fill in the space. It got pulled.
Basically the bite guard will save you a lot of money, eventually. Oh, and also the grinding wears down your teeth, causing a much more interlocked bite. It’s harder to fit fillings and crowns. That doesn’t cost more, but it’s fiddly and time consuming and annoys your dentist.
Wow. Most honest dentist in America; most of them make you pony up hundreds of bucks for a custom-made biteguard and in my experience they are not any better. I’ve owned literally every single type and my favorite is the one with just the two pads that sit between your molars. You can tell how much they are helping because in a few weeks there will be some unusual wear marks on the guard.
I had my dentist recommend a cheap over the counter guard. Then I later had one custom made. I hate both and can’t get used to sleeping in either even if I try over the course of a week or longer.
Bruxism is probably the diagnosis; and the expensive mouthguard is called a Bruxism device (also dental guard and occlusal splint).
You have an honest dentist. I’ve asked various dentists about this; and when pushed on the issue I’ve never heard a valid argument as to why an OTC mouthguard won’t work just as well.
TIL from wikipedia; that there are several drugs that are thought to cause bruxism.
This is the one I use: Doctor’s Night Guard. I am so impressed with how well it works. I no longer wake up with tension headaches every morning from the grinding and clenching.
My dentist was concerned about my crowns getting damaged while I sleep and had a guard made. No charge to me as it was 100% covered by insurance (MetLife dental).
When I was first prescribed amphetamines, I ground my teeth so hard that I fractured the upper right bicuspid. I tell you, that is one noise you don’t want waking you from a dead sleep. Thinking of it makes me shudder.
If the football guard prevents lateral movement of your teeth, it should help prevent tooth damage from grinding, but it won’t solve any problems you might have related to headaches, jaw pain, etc.
I can’t afford any fancy-schmancy dental devices, but I was able to use behavior modification techniques to stop concentrating stress in my jaw. You might look into some relaxation techniques specifically to combat bruxism.
I used an over the counter guard, but bit it in half. I got the custom made guard, which lasted for two years before I chewed that one so much it had to be replaced. I’ve had the second one six months and it seems to be holding up.
I grind and clench my teeth, mostly at night. I have a nightguard and I am back to wearing it regularly. Mine is custom from the dentist because I have missing upper teeth, bone loss and the associated loose teeth, and a “deep” bite. I couldn’t use the OTC mouthguards even before my upper teeth were pulled.
When I don’t wear my nightguard, I regret it. I get headaches and a sore jaw. I also had to get a lower front tooth filled last month due to excessive wear. I blame myself because I lost my nightguard for a few months and it wasn’t until I had to get the tooth filled that I was motivated enough to find it. Then the headaches and jaw soreness started reducing, and now I remember why I am supposed to wear the thing.:smack:
My wife has ground her teeth for years - when her old dentist retired and she got a new dentist, the new one went “… uhhhh… you know those migraines you get frequently? they could be because of the grinding”.
So insurance paid for a custom mouthguard. It helped the grinding (she no longer woke up with headaches) and helped the migraines - became much less frequent, especially morning ones (she used to wake up with a migraine or get one shortly after waking up a couple times a month, now any migraines are rare and usually happen during the day).
Until she went and got braces again to further help with said migraines. The custom mouthguard didn’t work with the braces, so she used a football (well series of them really) for the couple years at night. Worked like a charm.
My only recommendations are (a) keep it clean by letting it soak denture cleaner during the day and (b) but a new one every ~6 months or so (depending on how much you grind) when it starts to look beat up.
A football mouth guard may not be as comfortable as dental night quart you can get in most drug stores. It will help protect your teeth, won’t cure the grinding. There are many systems associated with teeth grinding, some of them are: chewed tissues on inside of cheek, pain in the jaw join and/or muscles, pain in the neck and shoulders, joint damage in the jaw, headaches, chronic facial pain to name a few. You should try a natural ways to cure your teeth grinding. You may wanat to check out: http://www.stopteethgrindingnow.net/
I also used to clench my teeth at night. I had a custom mouth guard made (covered by insurance) and it did help.
The ultimate solution was far simpler. Turns out that my bite was being interfered with by a poorly finished filling. A simple shave off and then I could close my teeth and no more clenching.
My quality of life is much improved. There is nothing worse than waking up with jaw/head pain.
Thanks for all of the tips folks! I didn’t realize that there were over the counter devices. I think it is helping me sleep and can only help the grinding/wear issue. Better living thru the internet at work!!!
I was checking out three dif devices at the drug store. The prices ranged from $15 - $30. One was a bit different than the other in that it only contacted your molars.
I get the Splintek Sleepright guard on Ebay for about $15. I chew thru about 4 a year. But it’s the only thing I didn’t spit out during the night and find on my pillow in the morning. It was so bad before I found this thing that some mornings I felt I couldn’t even unlock my jaws. And yes, found pieces of tooth in my mouth many times. This thing is unobtrusive-I have found myself clenching at work when I am working on deadline on a project (graphic design). So I can keep one of these in my desk. I can talk with it in, albiet slightly slurring, but if I’m suddenly interrupted, I can manage.
I had one special made and I don’t love it. For one thing, it causes me to grind my teeth more, because I’m always wanting to bite down on the plastic. For another thing, it’s very difficult to clean - soap and water only - and it gets gross. I haven’t used it in months.
I got a box of these disposable night guards, and I love them. I had a custom-made one from my dentist (covered by insurance), but I like these better - the dentist one was hard, but these are softer, and I can chew on them a bit more.
It was something like $25 for a box of ten, and I can use one for months. Not a bad value!
ETA: I don’t know if you can see in the picture very well, but they just fit between your molars, not around all of your teeth. I don’t like those ones, either.
