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Dental hygiene tips for healthy teeth & gums

Understanding The Importance of Night Guards For Teeth Grinding

Dental appliances such as Nightguards protect your teeth from sleep apnea and grinding. These conditions affect your oral health and also affect your sleep quality. You can use night guards as an oral protection tool to protect your oral well-being. Your dentist can help you identify oral conditions that require night guards for protection.

This article will help you explore the benefits of night guard. You can also learn about damage caused by teeth grinding and sleep apnea and understand ways to protect yourself. You can improve your oral health with practical tips to prevent such conditions.

How does Teeth Grinding Affect Your Mouth?

Teeth grinding is quite damaging for your teeth. It is called bruxism and can make your teeth worse. They also cause chips, cracks, and damage to your teeth and increase tooth sensitivity significantly. The grinding of teeth can affect your tooth enamel and cause potential fractures as well.

The constant clenching puts your teeth under a lot of pressure. This strains your jaw muscle and causes discomfort. If left untreated, you can observe jaw muscle discomfort, limited jaw movement, and facial pain. It also causes severe headaches without proper treatment.

In severe cases, you can also face tooth loss due to loosened teeth. Grinding damaged supporting bone structure, making teeth loose. It compromises your existing dental work and affects normal oral function, making talking and chewing food difficult.

What Does Your Mouth Guard Do?

Dentists recommend this protection tool for various purposes. Most contact sports players use mouthguards to protect them from accidental damage while playing. These tools also help you if you have the following conditions:

  • Snoring
  • Obstructive sleep apnea
  • TMJ disorder
  • Grind your teeth.

Usually, store-bought nightguards are not as durable as custom-made ones. You should consult your dentist to determine which type of nightguards will suit you the best based on your use case. Children and teens might need to replace their night guards more often than adults as their teeth and mouths grow.

Nightguards For Oral Protection

Mouth guards used at night for oral protection due to sleeping habits are called nightguards. Your dentist might recommend you one after they observe signs of damage due to sleep apnea or grinding. Dentists can also give you a custom-fitted night guard to provide you with extra protection and comfort. Let us explore how night guards are useful for oral protection and prevent sleep apnea.

Prevents Tooth Damage
Your teeth grinding habits cause worn-out enamel, cracked, broken, and tooth sensitivity. Your dentist can help you repair existing damage and provide a custom-made nightguard. It improves your oral health and prevents them from fracture and wear or tear.

Help with Morning Headaches
People with a habit of jaw clenching often have severe morning headaches. With nightguards, you can reduce these headaches and help your jaw feel relaxed. It is a drug-free alternative for morning headaches and can reduce your jaw pressure. With nightguards, you can enjoy a side-effect-free treatment to relieve your jaw pain.

Benefits To Use A NightGuard

Protects Your Teeth
Nightguards protect your teeth from chipping and cracking. They also reduce the chances of potential oral fracture. They prevent teeth friction and stop them from grinding against each other.

Better Sleep Quality
These also prevent symptoms of sleep apnea and provide a relaxing sleep. They minimize disturbances caused by teeth grinding to provide a better sleep quality.

Less Jaw Pain and Headaches
Nightguards also reduce jaw pain and headaches caused by teeth clenching.

Reduced Snoring
These ensure that you have a sufficient and open airway while you sleep. This prevents snoring and obstructive sleep apnea. You can have a sound sleep and less snoring if you use a nightguard.

Protects Dental Restorations
Without multiple teeth putting pressure on each other, your dental restorations are well-protected. Your crowns, veneers, and bridges are damaged due to teeth grinding, and a nightguard is an effective solution to prevent this damage.

Conclusion

Mouth guards are useful tools for dental protection. Most athletes use these regularly to protect themselves against accidental damage. However, for someone with a habit of grinding their teeth in sleep, this can be a lifesaver. Mouth guards are used at night to prevent signs of sleep apnea. These night guards protect teeth against wear, tear, and potential fractures.

Your dentist can provide a readymade nightguard or a custom-fit one to provide you with better quality sleep. This clenching habit is also damaging to your dental restorations. You can contact experts at Elgin Dentist TX to consult your sleep apnea signs. You can also find a well-fitted nightguard for yourself and improve your oral health and your sleep quality effectively.