The difference between a mouth guard and a night guard
A mouth guard is a device that most of us probably know from sports. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a dental apparatus, nor worn only at night time. For example, boxers wear mouth guards to reduce the chance of dental injuries. However, the purpose of a dental mouth guard is exactly the same: it protects your teeth from damage.
Bruxism
A dental night guard, for which the professional term is a bite raising appliance (occlusal splint),is used in the case of bruxism or TMJ ( mandibular joint)problems. Bruxism is a condition, where you unintentionally grind your teeth most often during sleep. Most of the time the bruxism could be stress related.
Any activity of the muscles that has no practical benefit is called parafunction. Bruxism is one such activity.
Before the effects of bruxism become visible, patients often complain of waking up with headaches in the side areas of their head, jaw pain, and general neck and head discomfort. If left untreated, this leads to generalised tooth wear. The chewing surface of teeth starts to look worn off and teeth look flattened. Once the tooth wear reaches the dentine of the tooth then it progresses much faster due to the fact that the dentine is not as mineralised( as hard) as the enamel. Another typical result of grinding your teeth is the so called abfraction. This is a V shaped defect in the cervical area on the outside of your teeth. Apart from the aesthetic detriment, this results in increased sensitivity to hot and cold. If left untreated this defect can reach the nerve of the tooth in which case a root canal treatment or extraction of the tooth will be necessary. However, the worst complication from tooth abrasion is that it reduces the height of the bite and wears down the jaw joint, creating extra pressure on the jaw muscles. This leads to visible physiological changes in the setting of the jawline and facial features.
The solution
The bite raising appliances ( night guards) are devices designed to protect the teeth from wearing down. It will also relieve the tension from your masticatory muscles and neutralise your jaw pain. If your diagnosis is bruxism, your dentist will prescribe a night guard, which will be custom-made to fit your dental arch size and shape. You will be wearing it typically on your upper teeth every night.
