What is an occlusal guard?
- An occlusal guard or night guard is similar to a retainer but is made out of a thicker material. The point of a night guard is to prevent damage to the teeth and jaw pain caused by clenching and grinding of the teeth when you sleep.
- Instead of clenching and grinding on your own teeth you instead will do so on the plastic of the nightguard.
- You will only need a night guard for either your lower teeth or your upper teeth. At our office our doctors typically make lower night guards because they are more comfortable for the patient to wear. If you sleep with a retainer, a lower night guard will replace the lower retainer at night and you can continue to use the upper retainer.
- To make the night guard our office will take a scan of the patient’s teeth. We will then send the scan to an off site lab who will fabricate the night guard. The lab will typically need about two weeks time to make and ship back the night guard.
- Lab made night guards are good quality material and if taken care of properly will last several years.
