Wednesday 3 October 2018

How Beneficial Is a Dental Night Guard


You may have seen many people wearing mouth guards. Those are typically the sportspersons who want to prevent their teeth from getting cracked, chipped or broken during the game. However, mouth guards can be used during the night as well. They are needed to relieve the conditions such as bruxism and sleep apnea. Now, you may wonder how to sleep with a thick mouth guard present between both of your jaws. Well, it is just a matter of instilling the habit.

Night guard for bruxism


Teeth grinding, or bruxism, is a common condition or habit. Many people do it in the day time and there are many who do it during sleep. The reasons for doing it in the night are usually the same as those for doing it in the day time. However, the only difference here is that you can control the grinding of your teeth during the day. However, it can be pretty difficult to do so when you are asleep. While you can always work on the root cause to treat the reason you are grinding your teeth, it would also be important to prevent the damage to your teeth due bruxism on immediate basis. For this purpose, you can use a mouth guard. The mouth guard that you use during the night to treat bruxism is a type of night guard. When you wear this night guard, the pressure generated due to clenching is absorbed into the flexible plastic of the night guard. This way, the teeth remain safe.

Night guard for sleep apnea


While you may be aware of CPAP machine to treat sleep apnea, it may be interesting for you that you can find relief from this condition with the help of a specific mouth guard which is made to treat sleep apnea. All you have to do is to wear this mouth guard during sleep. Sleep apnea is the condition associated with the expansion of soft tissues in the throat when they become relaxed when you sleep. This expansion results in the obstruction of airflow in the throat area. As a result, the sleep quality is greatly affected. The mouth guard used to prevent sleep apnea basically aims at keeping the upper jaw in forward position. This position can ensure an open airflow through the throat by keeping the expanded tissues from blocking the way.

If you think that you are in the need of a night guard for any reason, you can visit your dentist to explore different options.