Protecting Your Teeth: Night Guards vs Sports Mouth Guards
Both night guards and sports mouth guards are important for different occasions. You might think, “can’t I just use one for both situations?” The answer is, you shouldn’t because while they are both mouth guards, they’re specifically made for different purposes.
Generic stock mouth guards are available at most grocery stores and pharmacies. However, since they are not a custom fit, it is unlikely to effectively protect your teeth and may not be comfortable at all. A boil-and-bite mouth guard requires you to boil it, then once it softens, bite down and let it set that way so it is molded to your teeth.
However, generally don’t have the integrity or strength to really protect your teeth. While it is molded to your teeth, it may still irritate your gums and lips and cause more problems over an extended period of time. Robinson Dental offers custom-made night guards and sports mouth guards to help protect your teeth.
Night Guards
Night guards are meant to prevent your teeth from grinding together while you’re sleeping. A lot of people don’t know if they grind their teeth at night because they’re sleeping. However, if you wake up in the morning with any of these symptoms, it may be a sign that you’re grinding your teeth:
- Headaches
- Toothaches
- Sensitive Teeth
- Sore Jaw
Teeth grinding can also worsen TMJ disorder. This is when your temporomandibular joint is stressed, inflamed, damaged, etc causing your jaw to lock, pop, and/or hurt. Whether you grind your teeth, have TMJ disorder, or both, a custom night guard can help alleviate pain and provide relief.
Sports-Mouth Guards
It’s common for people to wear protective equipment on their head, chest, arms, and legs, but it’s important not to forget about your mouth. Sports mouth guards help protect your teeth from an external impact. Even if you’re participating in a non-contact sport like motocross or skiing, it’s still a good idea to have and wear a sport-mouth guard.
Be sure to tell your dentist what sport(s) your mouth guard will be for so they can plan to construct it in a way to best protect your teeth from chipping and breaking. This combined with being tailored to your bite pattern makes them stronger and better able to than a store-bought guard.
The Difference Between the Two
Night guards tend to be thinner than sports mouth guards so they’re more comfortable to sleep in and wear for extended periods of time. Plus, they don’t need to be as bulky since they’re not meant to protect your teeth from trauma.
No mouth guard is a 100% guarantee that your teeth won’t get injured, some injuries are unavoidable, but the impact will be significantly less when you wear a mouth guard, especially a custom-fit one made by Robinson Dental.
Request an Appointment
At Robinson Dental, our Cascade, Coopersville and Wayland, MI dentists provide emergency dentistry to address your dental problem as soon as possible. To make an appointment, call (888) WE-C-U-NOW.