Nightguards

Why wear a Nightguard?      What is a Nightguard?     What is Clenching and Grinding of your teeth?   What is Bruxism?

At DesertSmiles,  we can help you with these questions.  First thing we need to find out is how many symptoms you have and what those symptoms are. Also, if you have pain or don’t have pain.  Then we decide how much clenching and grinding you are doing.  Most people clench or grind their teeth and don’t even realize it unless their spouse lets them know that they are doing this in their sleep.  Habitual clenching or grinding teeth are forms of abnormal behavior.  This can happen during the day but mostly at night during sleep.
Bruxism is the unconscious and involuntary habit of clenching and grinding teeth.  This means that a person  with bruxism is mostly unaware of , and unable to stop the habit.It can take place at night and day.  Bruxism is also related to stress and is a common problem.  Bruxism can affect the teeth, muscles and the jaw joints  (TMJ).
The signs and symptoms of Bruxism are that the teeth will be worn down and became shorter.  The teeth will become flattened and sometimes be worn right through the enamel to the dentin (the interior portion of you tooth).  Which can be very sensitive to cold and chewing.  If bruxism isn’t treated, you could grind your teeth down to the gum. Extensive wear can cause problems with the TMJ (temporomandibular joint).

The treatment in most cases will be a Nightguard.  This is an appliance worn at night and sometimes day depending on your symptoms. The nightguard will help with the habit and will aide in the prevention of worn teeth.  The nightguard will also help if you are having pain in the TMJ.
 
When you book an appointment and come in to our office for a nightguard,  we will first decide if you need a nightguard by evaluating your wear and your symptoms.  If Dr. Wilcox decides you indeed need a nightguard,  we will take an upper and a lower impression and we will take a wax bite.  These models will be sent out to our special lab for the nightguard to be fabricated.  Which takes about a week.
When you came back to have the nightguard fitted,  we will check the fit and check your bite pattern and adjust accordingly.  Then in one week we will see you again for a followup appointment to re-evaluate your bite and fit.

Here is an example of our nightguards that we make here at Desertsmiles.