Nightguards & Mouthguards
Hellertown, PA
We want to help you keep your teeth strong, healthy, and damage free. There are steps you can take to protect your teeth from impact injuries in sports or activities and the nighttime effects of bruxism. Our staff at DeWire Dental can fit you with a protective layer to cover your teeth and provide the protection you need. Known as a mouthguard, or nightguard, this simple device can potentially save you from expensive repairs and painful results. We would love to discuss this customized device with you.
What is a Nightguard?
A nightguard is a silicone appliance that is customized to fit your mouth, over your teeth. It is used for patients who experience an unconscious condition known as bruxism. Bruxism is a condition that induces either clenching or grinding of the teeth during the day, or while you sleep. Patients who have this condition can cause considerable damage to their teeth. It can cause:
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Breakage: Chips, cracked enamel or even whole tooth fractures, can be caused from teeth clenching and grinding.
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Flattening: Grinding the teeth can actually cause flattening, or the wearing down of natural peaks in your enamel designed to help chew food.
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Pain: Pain in your teeth, pain in your jaw, damage to your soft tissue, bruxism can cause a patient a lot of discomfort.
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Other Large, Painful Problems: Bruxism can even lead to some more serious dental problems, including a root fracture below the gumline, requiring a root canal and crown to restore the damaged tooth. |
A nightguard can add a layer of protection, limiting or even removing these potential problems.
Mouthguards
Sports, outside activities, and physical recreation is important, and something that we promote for a healthy body, but we strongly advise that you consider ways to protect your teeth while engaging in them. Impact injuries to the mouth is the most common injury in most athletics and outdoor extracurriculars. From broken, cracked, or even missing teeth, the threat is real. To protect your teeth, we recommend having a mouthguard customized to fit your mouth.
A mouthguard is an essential piece of athletic gear that we believe should be part of your standard equipment, for children, teens and adults. While collision and contact sports, such as boxing or football, are more obvious high-risk sports for the mouth, you can experience a dental injury in non-contact activities too, such as gymnastics and skating. You can save yourself painful injuries and expensive restorations by wearing this simple silicone device.
Recent studies have even shown a decrease in impact injuries to other areas of the mouth and skull when wearing a sportsguard or mouthguard, ask us how they can reduce the amount of impact taken.
There Are Three Types of Mouthguards
In general, nightguards and mouthguards can be categorized into three types:
Custom-fitted:
Customized guards are made specifically for you. In general, they are more expensive than other options to create, but they may be the best economical decision in the end. Customized guards will be worn more often by more patients for a couple of reasons:
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Comfortable: Having your nightguard or mouthguard customized means that it fits your mouth, it’s not bulky, oversized or missized. When they are comfortable, people are much more likely to wear them.
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Commitment: Because of their higher expense, you’re more likely to be committed to wearing them. It may be simple psychology, but it’s true. |
Stock:
Stock means guards that are store-bought, in stock. Stock guards will provide the layer of protection needed. They come in a pre-formed, one size fits all form. Hint, this often means they are too big. They will do the job, but are worn less often due to their discomfort.
Boil and Bite:
The boil and bite guard is a good middle ground in both expense and comfort. They are store bought and easy to create. They can be bought at many sporting goods stores and drugstores, and may offer a better fit than stock mouth protectors. Inside the package you will find a gummy, pliable material. You first soften in by placing it in a pot of boiling water for a brief time, and then, after it has somewhat cooled, you simply insert it into your mouth and bite down, adapting it to the shape of your mouth.
Protection for Your Teeth
We ask a lot of our teeth; we need them to chew, for proper speech, and for our self confidence, so we want to take care of them. Ask us about nightguards and mouthguards, we can answer your questions.
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