Are Mouth Guards Good for Your Teeth?

Mouthguards are dental appliances helpful for protecting your teeth from clenching and grinding them when sleeping and from injuries if you are involved in contact sports. Mouthguards also help reduce snoring, providing relief from obstructive sleep apnea. If you are interested in any sporting activities or are affected by bruxism causing you to grind and clench your teeth, you can find the help you need to overcome the problem from Lutke Dental.

Please do not assume all mouthguards are created equal. Three different types of mouthguards are available on the market, depending on your unique needs. Please continue reading to learn more about the various mouthguards for the variety best suited for specific situations.

Who Needs a Mouth Guard?

As mouthguards are created for different purposes, your specific situation will determine whether or not a mouth guard is suitable for your situation. For example, besides medical conditions like sleep apnea and bruxism that need mouthguards, you also benefit from these dental appliances if you are involved in certain sporting activities to help protect your teeth from damages or suffering injuries to your lips or tongue.

You must consider using mouthguards if you are involved in sports like soccer, football, boxing, basketball, field hockey, skateboarding, cycling, et cetera. Therefore your circumstances determine whether you must have a mouth guard to protect your teeth.

What Kind of Mouthguards Can You Have?

As mentioned earlier, three types of mouthguards are available on the market in drugstores, sports goods stores, and dentists. If you want to protect your teeth from impacts due to injuries or falls, you can consider using the stock mouthguard available over-the-counter at affordable prices as a protective measure to safeguard your mouth. However, you must remember stock mouthguards are ill-fitting and uncomfortable. In addition, they are available in three sizes and only help cover the top teeth.

If you want a better quality of mouthguard, you will find the boil and bite option a better solution. Boil and bite mouthguards allow you to customize them for your teeth by boiling them in water until they soften before placing them over your front teeth and biting down.

Mouthguards in Plano, TX, provide custom-made dental appliances after taking a mold of your teeth and using it to fabricate a mouth guard explicitly for the structure of your mouth and teeth. As a result, mouthguards from dentists provide a better fit than the other two available over-the-counter. Unfortunately, custom-made mouthguards are expensive, costing you more than stock mouthguards or the boil and bite variety.

How to Care for Your Mouth Guard?

You must protect your mouthguard from damages by keeping it clean because it remains in your mouth for quite some time. To derive maximum benefits from your dental appliance, use the following steps when caring for your mouthguard.

• Always brush and floss your teeth before inserting the mouth guard in your mouth.
• Rinse your mouthguard with cool water or mouthwash before inserting it in your mouth and removing it.
• Brush the mouthguard with a toothbrush and toothpaste after every use.
• Check for damages on the dental appliances frequently, indicating it needs replacements.
• During your dental appointments, carry the mouthguard with you to examine it and determine whether it fits well and functions correctly.
• Keep your mouthguard away from pets even if you store it in a container.

Mouthguards are not appliances that last forever. Consider getting replacements because it is crucial for your teeth whenever you notice wear and tear.

Is It Bad to Sleep with Guards?

If you are diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea causing you to snore loudly every night when sleeping, your dentist recommends a custom mouth guard to overcome the condition. They provide a night guard for teeth that you must wear to keep your lower jaw forward to prevent your throat muscles from collapsing. It indicates the night guard must be worn when sleeping to confirm that wearing mouthguards is not detrimental.

Grinding and clenching your teeth is another problem that can affect you consciously or when sleeping. If your dentist has provided a mouth guard for grinding teeth, you wouldn’t want to wear it in your mouth throughout the day and night, would you? Mouthguards for bruxism require wearing when you sleep to keep your teeth apart and prevent them from contacting each other.

These two conditions confirm it is safe to wear your dental appliances during the night when sleeping. So long as you arrange for custom-made mouthguards for these specific conditions, you can confidently wear them at night. However, please do not attempt the stock variety for problems like bruxism and sleep apnea because they are neither suitable for these problems and are likely to dislodge from your mouth when sleeping.