Many people suffer from bruxism, which is the clenching and grinding of your teeth while asleep. This common condition impacts one in 12 people, and it can cause a variety of unpleasant symptoms, including pain, tooth damage, and sleep disorders. Bruxism is most often caused by stress, so a lot of treatments for this condition will center around reducing stress in your life. In addition, your dentist may advise you to wear a night guard. Night guards are used to address several different conditions, such as lockjaw and TMJ, and they serve to protect your teeth from damage in your sleep. In this blog, we will go over some of the ways wearing a night guard can help you.
Tooth Damage Prevention
Over time, clenching and grinding your teeth in your sleep can cause major issues. Broken teeth, fillings, and tooth sensitivity are common results of teeth grinding. This can result in some very expensive cosmetic procedures, including tooth restoration and retreatment. When you wear a night guard, you can prevent your upper teeth and lower teeth from coming in contact with each other, which stops the damage caused by clenching and grinding your teeth.
Pain Reduction
It’s common for people who clench their teeth to experience toothaches, headaches, and tooth sensitivity. For people with TMJ, it’s also typical to have neck pain, tender jaw, ear aches, muscle spasms, and muscle fatigue. When you wear a night guard, you are better able to manage these symptoms and relieve pain. Because your night guard is personalized to your needs, you don’t have to worry about TMJ jaw pain as much.
Less Tension
People who clench their jaw experience a lot of tension, which makes it difficult to comfortably eat, speak, and laugh. Mouth guards are specifically designed to be lightweight and comfortable in your mouth, reducing the stress in the muscles and joints in your jaw.
Better Sleep
When you wear a night guard, it helps you to manage the symptoms of your condition, whether its bruxism, TMJ, or another jaw issue. The reason that bruxism often leads to sleep disorders is that it causes discomfort and pain, which disrupts your sleep. When you have a properly fitting night guard, however, your jaw muscles can relax, reducing the stress and tension in your jaw. This gives you the relief you need to sleep.
Snoring Prevention
The jaw problems associated with clenching and grinding your teeth can lead to issues with breathing at night, which may cause you to snore. When you have a night guard, it keeps your jaws slightly parted, which improves the flow of air into your body. In turn, this can reduce snoring. If you are concerned about snoring due to jaw problems, a night guard may be the solution.
If you are interested in benefiting from a night guard, it will require two visits to our dental clinic in Atlantic City. For the first visit, we will examine your teeth, measure them, and create a mould of them from which we will create your night guard. On the second visit, you will try on your night guard to ensure it fits, and if it does, you can begin using it that night. We are happy to provide these services to our patients with bruxism, TMJ, and other jaw issues. Contact us today!