Will a Night Guard Change Your Bite?
Teeth grinding and clenching, or bruxism, is a common and frequent problem. Bruxism is a challenge to control because it most often occurs at night during sleep. If left untreated, bruxism will result in extensive wear.
Your dental team examines your teeth during your regular six-month checkup to identify any symptoms of bruxism. If your dentist identifies either grinding or clenching, they might recommend a night guard as a reasonable treatment to address this problem. Bruxism will leave you with considerable damage to your teeth, needing future treatment. There is a small risk of a night guard changing your bite.
What Are Night Guards?
A night guard is a custom plastic appliance created by your dentist to fit snugly over your teeth. The night guard will absorb the forces when grinding or clenching. When used at night, deep grooves could tend to form in your night guard from grinding pressures. The night guard prevents excessive force from creating damage to your teeth.
If you have symptoms and leave bruxism untreated without using a nightguard, your enamel will deteriorate, resulting in increased tooth sensitivity. You may also have chipped or cracked teeth needing extensive restorative treatment to repair the damage. If you wish to simply prevent significant future costs on dental restorations, it is common sense to invest in a nightguard to prevent grinding or clenching.
Benefits of Wearing a Guard
When you start wearing a night guard created by your dentist, the night guard will prevent your teeth from contacting each other during sleep, avoiding unnecessary injuries. If you wish to gain maximum benefits from your night guard, you should have the night guard created by your dentist instead of buying an over-the-counter retail night guard.
Will Your Bite Change Wearing Night Guards?
A night guard is a proven, successful dental appliance for bruxism treatment. The night guard manages the symptoms of bruxism by preventing damage to your teeth caused by grinding and clenching. The primary causes of the issue should not be left untreated.
Bruxism has various causes, including both stress and anxiety. Sometimes, teeth grinding will result from a life-threatening condition, like sleep apnea. Using a night guard for teeth grinding, if you are affected by sleep apnea, will protect your teeth from bruxism, but will not treat sleep apnea.
In extremely rare cases, a night guard could leave you with an open bite needing orthodontic treatment. Nightguards might alter your bite since they put pressure on your teeth and may gradually move them, especially if you have gum disease with a weakened tooth structure.
You can create a problem with your bite if you use a night guard when you try to cut costs and purchase one of the cheap, over-the-counter night guards. Although approved by the FDA, these night guards are not scrutinized for proper authenticity and might not fit well.
You may have sleep apnea with bruxism, and you might need treatment for both conditions. Your dentist could work with a sleep specialist to evaluate your situation to recommend an appropriate dental appliance to treat both conditions. Dental appliances can indeed treat sleep apnea and simultaneously treat bruxism to give you a successful remedy.