If you have frequent headaches, feel more tension in your neck and jaw muscles or
have tooth wear, its possible you may clench or grind your teeth and an Occlusal Guard
may have been recommended by your Dentist. You may perhaps wonder if it’s a good
treatment choice for you and if it’s a worthy investment.

Guards have more than one purpose, including:

preventing pain,  saving you money,  and can even improve your overall health.

An Occlusal Guard, commonly known as a Night Guard or Mouth Guard is typically
made to be worn on either the top or bottom teeth covering the biting surfaces. Most
folks have the Guard made to fit on the upper teeth, since it’s the jaw that doesn’t move.

An Occlusal Guard can be made out of hard, soft or a combination of soft material
inside that touches the teeth and then harder material on the biting surface.

FACTS ABOUT OCCLUSAL GUARDS

Guards Help Prevent Tooth Wear and Fracture

Some folks wear a Guard because they may clench or grind their teeth together while they are sleeping. Some of us, like myself,
am fortunate enough to also clench while we are awake. Grinding and clenching not
only wears the teeth down but can also affect the support of our teeth; gum tissue can
develop inflammation, and we can develop bone loss. If enough cumulative force is
present, the teeth may also crack and break meaning more expensive dentistry or worst
case loosing teeth. A Guard would prevent this force on the teeth.

Guards Can Help Prevent Tension Headaches

When we clench or grind, the muscles of our jaw are working overtime to squeeze our teeth together, the over-working of these
muscles can cause a build-up of tension and muscle soreness leading to headaches.
Guards Help Relieve Jaw Pain: Sadly, clenching and grinding can also cause jaw pain
which can effect our everyday life. Jaw pain can make it difficult to chew food, make it
challenging to hold our mouth open or even make it hard to talk.

Guards Help Ease Tooth Pain

Under the cumulative pressure of clenching and grinding
our teeth and the support for our teeth develop inflammation. This inflammation of both
the teeth and support can cause toothaches, temperature sensitivity and can ultimately
lead to possible infection if the inflammation doesn’t subside.

Guards Can Help Patients Save Money

Occlusal Guards are designed to minimize and
prevent the negative effects of cumulative extra force on our teeth and muscles. If we
can prevent trauma to our teeth by wearing a Guard we would help prevent the need for
more costly dental treatment.

Overall, Occlusal Guards are a very helpful tool to and serve to help improve overall
health and wellness for our patients.