Teeth clenching, grinding and gnashing can adversely affect your oral health. Moreover, it affects how you chew, eat and speak.

As such, a night guard is a top dentist recommendation to fix bruxism ( teeth grinding and clenching ).

However, there are some unclear doubts regarding night guards.

For instance, can a night guard shift your teeth? Read on to garner insightful information about night guards and get the best use from them. 

Can A Night Guard Shift Your Teeth?

First and foremost, a night or dental guard, mouth guard, nocturnal bite plates, or bite splints is a thin dental appliance made of acrylic or thermoplastic.

Ideally, night guards cover the teeth, providing a barrier between the upper and below teeth. This is especially true if you have bruxism.  

Primarily, there are three types of dental guards:

1. As the name insinuates, disposed night guards last for two weeks and are ideal for persons with light bruxism.
2. Boil-and-bite dental guards require one to boil them, then bite into them for effectiveness and acquire the perfect imprint of your teeth.
3. The high-end customizable night guard requires a dental visitation, whereby the dentist customizes one for you.

Customizable night guards are more durable and protect both the teeth and jaw from grinding. 

So, for the concern, can a night guard shift your teeth? The straightforward answer is that it depends.

A non-custom fit night guard will most likely move your teeth. As such, it would be best to get a custom made night guard molded perfectly from your mouth to alleviate the effects of teeth grinding.

Night guards pressure teeth, gradually making them move. However, a custom made mouth guard ensures your teeth remain intact. 

Also, night guards covering only the front teeth will most likely cause teeth shifting

How To Get A Custom Night Guard?

The way to get your custom-made night guard is easy and painless. First, your dentist will take a 3D impression of your teeth. This impression is used to construct your customized night guard out of durable and non-toxic plastic. 

Then, adequate attention is paid to make the night guards fit your teeth. This is how a custom night guard is made in the laboratory. 

In the beginning, you may feel out while wearing the night guard, but gradually, you get accustomed to it, and it will be fine for you to wear your custom-made nightguard without any problem. 

Your night guard will not interfere with the breathing process, and you can talk and speak as usual. If you feel any discomfort, it might be due to an ill-fitting or over-the-counter night guard.

View a related post: How Fast Do Teeth Move with Braces?

Pros and Cons Of Night Guards

A customized nightguard protects your teeth from clenching and from the force of teeth grinding. Clenching can cause breaking of teeth or worn-down teeth. 

In addition, bruxism causes clenching, which puts stress on your teeth, causing pain in your jaw. This jaw pain may result in a headache or even migraines.

A night guard acts as a cushion between your teeth and avoids such pain. Doing all this, a nightguard helps you to have a nice sleep.

The cons with nightguards are that initially, you might feel uncomfortable while wearing a nightguard, but gradually you will become habitual. 

Summary

Can a night guard shift your teeth? Yes, an ill-fitting night guard can shift your teeth, but this is not the case with a custom-made nightguard designed to fit the alignment of your teeth.

To get a custom-made nightguard, you should visit your dentist. He will take the impression of your teeth and will get your night guard prepared in the laboratory.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can Wearing A Night Guard Change Your Bite?

If your night guard is not of appropriate and suitable size, then it will cause an impact on your teeth, changing your bite and jaw pain.

Are Night Guards Bad For Your Teeth?

Because of grinding, depressions get formed in night guards. In return, night guards apply similar force on teeth and cause damage. If you choose not to wear a nightguard, this force of grinding will cause enamel erosion and hypersensitivity in your teeth.

Do Night Guards Last Forever?

Like many other things, night guards also have a fixed life and do not last forever. The quality of night guards determines their longevity. Taking proper care of night guards will enhance their life. Typically, a nightguard may last for years, but it depends on several other factors.

Can I Wear Night Guard During The Day?

Yes. Dentists recommend wearing a night guard more often for efficient results.

In addition, wearing your mouth guard for short periods during the day allows your mouth and mind to get acquainted with a foreign object and helps you learn how to breathe while wearing a night guard.

The post Night Guards & Teeth Shifting: Understanding the Potential first appeared on Mouth Ninja.

But the question is: Can Grinding Teeth Cause Tooth Pain?

The simple answer is YES

Grinding the teeth can cause hypersensitivity to hot and cold sensations and I don’t know about you but it causes a massive pain all around my mouth.

More severe cases of Bruxism can lead to teeth fractures and loss of teeth. Sometimes the teeth become misaligned and loose which can cause tooth pain.

The worst is when you have a toothache and a headache at the same time, it can make it unbearable to live. If you grind your teeth regularly you probably know what I mean.

How Does Teeth Grinding Occur?

Did you know that around 85-90% of the general population grind their teeth at some point during their life but it’s only 5% who will develop it as a clinical condition!

Some studies have suggested that women are more commonly diagnosed with Awake bruxism more than males are but when it comes to Sleep bruxism, the statistics are equal for both genders.

Let’s start with the most common problem that leads to Teeth Grinding which is:

Stress

Yup this is the major cause of Bruxism and accounts for the majority of grinding teeth patients.

The stressful lifestyle and emotional stress can lead to depression and anxiety which causes havoc on the brain and in turn can lead to this bad habit which some suggest is subconsciously controlled, but more studies are still ongoing to see if this is actually the case.

Clinical studies have suggested that stress is the major reason people seek medical advice and with numbers between 50-70%, it’s quite serious.

Genetic Factors

This is another aspect that plays a role in teeth grinding. Although not as significant as stress it is reported to account for 21-50%.

This is how many people have this condition who have a direct family member who suffered from bruxism as a child.

This shows there is a possible genetic link which needs looking at into more detail.

Occlusal Interference

It sounds complex but all it means is that there is a problem with the structures of the teeth which leads to misalignment and bite issues.

I personally have a slight problem where my top teeth don’t make proper contact with the bottom teeth.

I believe this is also the reason why my 2 top front teeth have little indentations at the end of them.

Which is More Dangerous: Sleep Or Awake Bruxism?

According to the journal: Psychosocial Aspects of Bruxism, Grinding teeth when sleeping is the most dangerous type because of the rhythmic masticatory muscle activity.

The masticatory muscles contribute to the movement of the jaw and are one of the major muscle groups in the head. They can be divided up into the following:

• Masseter – Elevates the lower jaw to help close the mouth.
• Temporalis – Elevates the lower jaw to help close the mouth. Also, retracts the jaw, pulling it posteriorly.
• Medial pterygoid – Elevates the jaw to help close the mouth.
• Lateral pterygoid – Acting bilaterally, the lateral pterygoids protracts the lower jaw pushing it forwards. Unilateral action produces the ‘side to side’ movement of the jaw.

Some Common Symptoms You Need To Be Aware Of With Teeth Grinding

The most obvious one is grinding the teeth which is accompanied by a distinct sound that usually awakens the partner in bed.

Headaches are a major sign especially if it’s in the temporal zone when you wake up in the morning.

Tooth pain can be another major sign especially if you notice it getting gradually worse and worse. It’s mainly because of the hypersensitivity that has gradually gotten worse as your bruxism has become worse.

Sometimes the teeth grinding can get so bad it shifts teeth out of their original place and causes instability and possible tooth loss.

The Signs are sometimes obvious but other times they can be obscure. Here is the list of the most common ones:

• Abnormal tooth wear
• Tongue indentations
• Gum recession
• Increase in muscle activity (this is recorded by the polysomnograph)
• Hypertrophy of masseter muscles
• Reduction of salivary flow
• Breakage of fillings and/or teeth
• Limitation of mouth-opening ability

Can Teeth Grinding Be Fixed?

Most of the time adults don’t have a severe enough case of bruxism to warrant therapy but if your someone who falls into the 5% of people who are classed as high risk then there are some treatment options you can look into.

If you suffer from day time bruxism, habit/behavioural therapy has been suggested to help leave teeth separated.

But if you suffer from sleep bruxism, it has been recommended that sleeping flat on the back without a pillow could help.

Some have even claimed autosuggestion that “I will not clench my teeth while asleep” or by positive posthypnotic suggestions can do wonders.

Cognitive behavioural therapy is another possible direction you can go into but it could take a while before you master this technique.

These are all psychological care treatments but sometimes this is not enough which is why you can opt for medical treatment in the form of Botox injections.

However, there is only one randomised trial that has been carried out which reported the reduction of myofascial pain symptoms.

It was only based on thirty people who received this injection which by all accounts is far too low of a number for any significant conclusions to be made.

There are studies that are currently underway but it could take a while before proper results and conclusions can be generated.

In general, medications aren’t very effective for treatment of bruxism, and more research is needed to determine their effectiveness.

Mouth Guards: The Most Common Treatment Option

Important Note: these methods may prevent or correct the wear to your teeth, but may not stop the bruxism

Mouth guards help to evenly distribute the pressure across your jaw and help to create a barrier between your upper and lower teeth.

This will stop your teeth from getting damaged any further and can help to reduce the noise of clenching at nighttime while you sleep.

They’re made from rubber or plastic and can be made by your dentist to fit your mouth.

You can also get mouth guards from your local pharmacist, but it’s unlikely to fit as well as a custom-made one.

But if you go online and search for mouth guards for bruxism you will find a wide range of options some of which are excellent and don’t cost as much as a custom-made guard.

The Best Teeth Grinding Guard To Use

We have scoured all over the internet and the most effective night guard we have found is the J&S Dental Lab Dental Night Guard.

One of the reasons we found it good was that it’s actually approved by dentist’s themselves which is a massive bonus. Anything that has passed professional authority is a plus in our books.

The selling point of this particular guard is the fact that it is customizable. You can choose from soft, semi-hard, to all hard night guard. The thickness ranges from 0.06″ to 0.16″.

It’s very durable because it lasts up to 5 years which is a long time for a mouth guard to survive.

The reason for this is the FDA approved material that is used in constructing it. It’s latex free, and BPA-free material Made in USA and Germany.

The best thing about it is the 1-year free replacement policy you get when purchasing this item.

If you have some sort of accident or it does not fit properly, the company will send a fresh night guard directly to your home, no questions asked!.

Just a quick note that you will be asked to take an impression of your teeth but it’s quite easy as they send you a quick 5 minute DIY kit to do this.

If your interested then please check out the Dental Lab Dental Night Guard which has an incredible 4.9 stars out of 5!

Conclusion

Grinding teeth does cause tooth pain because the structures of your teeth are being disrupted. Hypersensitivity is one of the major causes of tooth pain because your teeth react harshly to hot or cold sensations.

More severe cases of bruxism can lead to teeth becoming fractured and eventually falling out.

The main treatment options for this is based on behavioural change rather than medication.

Subliminal messages and cognitive behaviour therapy are the more common means but sometimes this can take a while before you stop grinding your teeth.

The most popular method of controlling teeth grinding is using a mouth guard which will protect your teeth from further damage while you sleep.

You can get custom fitted ones from your dental specialist but they can be expensive and the ones you get online are cheaper and do just a good a job.

We hope you found this information useful and as always, if you have any questions please leave a comment below.

The post Teeth Grinding & Tooth Pain: Causes, Symptoms & Solutions first appeared on Mouth Ninja.