A mouth guard can protect your teeth from injury during sports or physical activities. It can also absorb the impact of a blow to the face and jaw. It is used to treat and prevent various oral issues, including teeth grinding and jaw clenching. These problems can be painful over the long term. Wearing a mouth guard at night protects your teeth from erosion caused by nighttime tooth grinding. At the same time, it prevents you from damaging your natural teeth by shifting them out of place or cracking them. It also stops you from developing TMJ disorder and lessens the symptoms of any existing TMD. 

How Do Mouth Guards Protect Your Teeth?

A good, well-fitting mouth guard can help protect your smile from oral trauma. This includes injuries to the teeth and soft tissues of the oral cavity, as well as injuries to the jaws. Custom-made mouth guards can be fabricated to fit you perfectly, so they provide maximum protection.

A custom-made mouth guard will also provide you with reliable protection for your unique smile. You may be able to wear a boil-and-bite mouth guard in a pinch, but it won’t provide the same level of protection as a professionally-fitted mouth guard will. That’s because these store-bought devices don’t fit your mouth as precisely as a professional device can. They also aren’t made with the same durable materials, which can mean they don’t last as long or provide as much protection in the long term. Plus, they may not offer as much protection for your jaw because they won’t contour to the shape of your upper and lower teeth, which can leave your lower jaw exposed.

By having a custom mouth guard created for you by your dentist, you can protect the teeth from further harm. In addition, your dentist can also work with you to help you understand possible causes for grinding your teeth so that you can consider treatment options if you are suffering from any underlying conditions. In some cases, if left untreated for a long period of time, tooth grinding can even lead to TMJ disorder.

When Should I Get a Mouth Guard?

The best candidates for receiving a mouth guard are those who play contact sports. Football, hockey, rugby, boxing—any sport or physical activity that can result in injury to the face. They can also protect those who suffer from bruxism (teeth grinding), who get migraines and headaches and those who wear braces or have bridges or crowns. They may be worn at night to prevent you from clenching your teeth. They may also be worn during the day if you tend to grind your teeth while you’re awake. 

If you want a custom mouth guard to help you or your child get additional protection against sports-related injury or other kinds of oral injury, visit our clinic at Winning Smiles Family Dentistry, 7801 Old Branch Ave #206, Clinton, MD 20735. For appointments, call us at (301) 868-2004. We will be happy to guide you further.