Have you ever been prescribed a night guard to protect your teeth from grinding? Or have you been told by your ENT or physician that you need a night guard to reduce the TMD (jaw pain)? To help you better navigate the market for mouth guards we created this article.
Mouth guards can come in different shapes and forms: from sport mouth guards to simple night guards to TMJ guards.
Simple Night Guard
Such a mouth guard can be made by any family dentist. It is intended to create a protective layer between the upper and lower teeth to cushion the teeth surface from wearing out. It is supposed to be worn at night time when the unconscious teeth grinding happens. It is custom made to fit an individual mouth. The unknown downside to it is that the regular night guard doesn’t fix the jaw joint misalignment and can make problems associated with it even worse. Grinding is a natural body response to TMJ disorder when the teeth are trying to come together in a better way. Putting on such night guards fixes the jaw in a misaligned position, minimizing the movement of the jaw and muscles, which leads to extensive muscle tension around the jaw, lips, ears, and neck, which in return, with time, leads to pain and more severe bruxism.
Regular night guards are an outdated solution to teeth grinding that can make problems even worse.
TMJ Mouth Guard
As of currently, you can find online TMJ guards that are sold as is, without customization and advertised as able to eliminate the TMJ pain.
TMJ mouth guards must be custom made by a TMJ dentist. Read here on who is recognized as a TMJ dentist. Such mouthguards will perform many functions: they will protect teeth from grinding, reduce or eliminate jaw pain, ear pain, and headaches by realigning the jaw joint.
TMJ mouth guards are custom made to fit an individual mouth as well as they are custom fit. Several visits to the dentist’s office are required to adjust the guard so that it helps align the jaw joint into its proper positioning.
TMJ mouth guards are prescribed to be worn at night time, as well as a few hours during the day. Usually, the longer you wear it the better. The more one wears the mouth guard the better and faster the results.
If you suffer from jaw pain, bruxism, frequent crown breaking and other symptoms of TMJ disorder, schedule a consultation with Houston leading TMJ dentist Dr. Afsaneh Moradi at 713-590-9777.
