Skip to main content

Occlusal Guards - Night Guards

Hello again from the office of Dr. Alan Pan, today we are going to talk about a different type of preventative care that may have been offered to you: Night Guards. Known as Occlusal Guards in the dental field, Night Guards do what the name suggests, guard your teeth at night! However, they are protecting your teeth not from an external threat, but from yourself. Often our own worst enemy when it comes to our teeth, we can do a lot of damage over time if we have bad habits such as bruxism, or grinding and clenching your teeth.

Have you ever woken up with a sore jaw, a headache, or neck/ear pain? These could be symptoms of grinding or clenching your teeth at night. If left unchecked, bruxism can break teeth or fillings, wear down your enamel, increase your risk of decay, and cause all kinds of pain. Other symptoms include:

  1. Tooth Sensitivity
  2. Migraine Headaches
  3. Ringing in your ears
  4. Broken/fractured teeth
  5. Broken/Fractured restorations(E.G. Fillings or Crowns)
  6. Tooth Mobility
It is thought that the main cause of bruxism is stress. We all go through different levels of stress from work, kids, spouses, and a hundred other things. Anxiety and anger can also contribute greatly to bruxing.

So, if you are someone who grinds your teeth at night, you can either deal with the eventual consequences, you can cut out all stress from your life(super easy), or you can go to your dentist and have them make you a Night Guard. Night Guards can range from $300-$500 depending on materials and lab fees, but can save you $1000's in future dental bills from broken teeth and crowns. They do have Night Guards at your local pharmacy as well if you are on a trip and forget yours at home, but the ones that you buy are NOT the same quality as a one that is professionally made. They are not going to fit exactly, or last very long, so it is better to bite the bullet and pay the premium. Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns, leave a comment, we would love to hear what you have to say!
Labels:

Comments

  1. Amy WatsonApril 14, 2019 at 9:13 PM

    Dental work is expensive initially, we started using Dental Plans when our children were in need of orthodontic work. Now, as we age, we find that it is more for us (crowns, root canals etc). Whatever season of life you are in, this works perfectly. Dental discount plans wa

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Whitening Solutions

Hello again everyone, one of the most popular cosmetic procedures that people request is tooth whitening. There are a lot of different products out there but we will focus on a few of the basic methods and how whitening works.


Whitening works through the application of either Hydrogen Peroxide(HP) or Carbamide Peroxide(CP), which penetrates the tooth surface and breaks down the chemicals that accumulate in the tooth, causing the staining. The higher the concentration of either Hydrogen Peroxide or Carbamide Peroxide increases how quickly it works as well as how many shades whiter you get per treatment. There are many many different products out there that claim tooth whitening, but they generally fall into a few different categories:

1. Toothpastes and rinses
2. Whitening Strips
3. Take home custom trays
4. Professional In Office whitening

Whitening toothpastes and Oral rinses are made by most of the big companies like Colgate and Oral-B. There are even a few holistic brands that clai…
4 comments
Read more

Oral Hygiene!

Hello again everyone! It occurred to us that after the lecture on Periodontal Disease last month, it might be a great idea to talk about prevention. Today we will go over dental Hygiene 101, the best practices, and some useful tools to keep your mouth as healthy as possible between your professional cleanings.

Order of Operations! You may not remember PEMDAS from math class, but pretty much everyone knows that you should brush, floss, and rinse with a mouthwash, but what you didn't know is that you are doing them in the wrong order! Dr. Pan recommends first flossing, then brushing, and finally rinsing with a non-alcoholic rinse. Flossing comes first because it helps to loosen any stuck food or plaque in between your teeth and down to your gums, which is then removed by brushing. Finally, the rinse helps to kill any stubborn bacteria around the gums and rinse anything you missed when you spit out your toothpaste. A family member taught her son the acronym FBS to help him remember:
F…
10 comments
Read more

Chewing Ice

Lately, we have notice that many of our patients are chewing ice, so Dr. Pan was interested in finding out if there was possibly a cause. Chewing ice can have severe consequences when it comes to your teeth. Due to the temperature and hardness of the ice, it can fracture your teeth, prematurely loosen or break your dental crowns, or cause micro fractures which develop over time into sensitivity and decay.

Dr. Pan found that one possible reason for chewing ice was due to iron deficiency. Iron deficiency can cause a burning sensation in your mouth, leading to a craving(called Pica) for ice. Pica is a craving for any substance that has no nutritional value, and has other causes, but Dr. Pan was interested and concerned about the iron deficiency because it can cause other systemic issues. Iron deficiency can cause low red blood cell count(anemia), frequent infections due to suppressed immune system, hair loss, and extreme fatigue or exhaustion. Low iron has also been linked to a much hig…
1 comment
Read more