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Over the counter night guards are sold together size fits all or as boil and bite night guards. Both sorts of over the counter night guards might mold to your teeth a touch bit, but they won’t be ready to offer you a real custom fit. Although retainers and night guards might look almost like the untrained eye, they’re not an equivalent thing and every sort of mouth guard has its own unique purpose. Retainers are designed to assist teeth stay in situ while night guards are designed to guard teeth. People with bruxism (teeth grinding and clenching) got to wear night guards in the dark as a preventative measure. We’ll also answer many of the commonly asked questions on retainers and night guards.
Before we get into the side effects, let’s re-evaluate the 2 main sorts of nighttime mouthguards: over the counter night guards and custom night guards.
counter night guards could be cheaper and more convenient, they’re also typically less comfortable and more likely to offer you negative side effects.
RETAINER VS NIGHT GUARD
WHAT IS A RETAINER AND what’s IT USED FOR?
Retainers are designed to stay your teeth properly aligned. Usually, people have retainers after they’ve had braces, Invisalign, or other orthodontic work that has shifted their teeth into a perfect alignment. The retainer keeps the teeth in their new location, and it’s typically made out of metal or plastic. When your teeth are newly moved to a replacement location in your mouth, they’re inclined to maneuver back where they came from, so a retainer prevents that from happening and helps your teeth become comfortable and stable in their new location.
WHAT IS NIGHT GUARD AND WHAT IT USED FOR?
Night guards are devices you place on your upper or lower teeth in the dark to guard your teeth and jaw from teeth clenching or grinding (otherwise referred to as bruxism). counting on your needs and your level of teeth grinding, your night guard is going to be made from a softer, more flexible rubber or a harder plastic. While night guards look very almost like plastic retainers, their protective function is totally different from that of a retainer.
CAN I WEAR A RETAINER AS AN NIGHTGUARD?
If you’ve got a retainer made from hard plastic that fully covers your upper or lower teeth, it’d provide some protection and relief for minor tooth grinding and clenching, but retainers aren’t designed to require the beating, your teeth placed on them once you grind your teeth in the dark and thus it might not be the simplest solution. Typically, retainers are very thin, as their job is just to carry your teeth in situ , to not protect them. Trying to wear a retainer as an evening guard will eventually end in holes and uneven decline for many people.
When I first developed bruxism, I used to still wear my retainers from my braces. This was a few years ago, before online companies like Pro Teeth Guard existed, and I didn’t want to spend tons of cash on an evening guard. I started wearing my retainers every single night, hoping they might provide protection to my teeth and relax my jaw muscles. While they did provide a touch little bit of protection, I still awakened with headaches and a sore jaw or sometimes tooth pain, and my continual grinding was beginning to wear away at my retainer. The fast fix of the retainer was doing nothing to ease my symptoms of bruxism.
Once I started wearing an evening dental guard nightly , I noticed just how little my retainers were doing to assist with my clenching and grinding. The night dental guard did a way better job of providing protection and cushion, and that I did not awaken with headaches or a sore jaw, albeit I still clench my front teeth in the dark .
HOW SHOULD AN NIGHT GUARD FIT?
When you start anything for the primary time, you’ll undoubtedly be filled with questions. beginning to wear a mouth guard for the primary time might feel strange, and you’ll want to understand how an evening guard fits and if your night guard is fitting properly.
As a teeth grinder and clencher myself, I do know exactly what an evening guard should desire , and I remember how strange it felt having that foreign object in my mouth initially . The first few nights that I wore my night guard, I felt some pressure and therefore the dental guard felt extremely tight on my teeth, but now that I’m worn out, it doesn’t feel strange in the least . In fact, I now have trouble sleeping if I forget to wear my night guard.
While the precise explanation for bruxism is unknown, it’s been linked to worry , anxiety, apnea , TMJ (temporomandibular joint dysfunction), and jaw misalignment. The aim of your night guard for bruxism (teeth grinding and clenching) is to make a physical barrier between your top teeth and bottom teeth. This barrier works to enhance your oral health and reduce or maybe eliminate the negative side effects caused by your bruxism.
Can you have veneers if you grind your teeth?
New porcelain technology has an answer for nightime grinders. E Max porcelain can be used in a monolithic form (one layer) that is very strong and unlikely to chip. Her treatment consisted of crowns to replace her old crowns, minimal preparation (Prepless) veneers on her incisors, and normal veneers to replace her old veneers on her eye teeth. Her goals were to have a more symmetrical smile with teeth that had more uniformity of color and were not worn.
