What Are The Benefits Of Using A Mouth Guard?

Sports accidents and regular teeth grinding and clenching are primary causes of dental damage. If you grind your teeth during sleep, play contact sports, or engage in high-impact physical impacts, you might want to consider a mouthguard. While a night guard won’t prevent sports accidents or the action of grinding your teeth, it significantly reduces tooth damage and other side effects caused by these factors.

What is a Mouthguard?

A mouthguard is a thin and transparent dental appliance worn over the teeth. The device protects your mouth, teeth, tongue, gums, cheeks, and jaw from trauma caused by internal and external factors like bruxism and sports injuries.

You might need a mouthguard if you:

• Grind or clench your teeth at night
• Engage in high-risk impact activities like ice skating, biking, and gymnastics.
• Play contact sports like rugby, football, hockey, soccer, basketball, and volleyball.
• Have sleep apnea or snore at night

Benefits of Mouthguards

There are many incredible benefits of using a mouthguard, including:

• It prevents tooth damage.

A mouthguard provides a protective shield between your top and bottom teeth. It ensures that your teeth don’t crush against each other when you grind them at night or when you get a blow to the face when playing sports.

If that happens without the mouthguard, it can easily chip, crack, break, or knock out your tooth. Then, you can experience severe discomfort and the need for dental treatments like dental crowns, fillings, and implants.

• It prevents and reduces jaw tension and pain.

Chronic teeth grinding can cause significant tension and stress to the temporomandibular joint (TMJ), causing pain in the jaw surrounding parts like the head and ear. Wearing a nightguard reduces the impact of teeth grinding, relieving the discomfort caused by TMD.

Similarly, wearing a sports guard reduces the impact of a blow to the face or jaw, protecting you from jaw injuries.

• It prevents headaches.

Chronic teeth grinding and sports oral injuries can cause significant discomforts like tooth pains, headaches, jaw aches, earaches, and neck pains. Wearing a mouthguard reduces the pressure caused by teeth grinding or sports injuries, preventing these issues.

• It improves sleep quality.

Normally, you shouldn’t grind or clench your teeth when sleeping. It can prevent you from getting quality sleep. Wearing a mouthguard aligns your jaw correctly, preventing or reducing the impact of bruxism. Your jaw muscles can relax, helping you sleep better.

• It prevents snoring.

A nightguard can also be helpful if you snore during sleep. Snoring is often a sign that you aren’t breathing well during sleep, affecting your sleep quality. The snore noises can also affect your sleep partner.

Wearing a nightguard aligns your jaw correctly, preventing airway obstruction and allowing you to breathe easily without snoring. It will also help your partner sleep better.

• It protects your dental work.

Regular teeth grinding or impact sports injuries can cause dental restorations like fillings, crowns, and dentures to break, crack, or fall out. A dental guard reduces the impact of teeth grinding and sports injuries, preserving your dental restorations.

• It saves you money.

A mouthguard protects you from damage and injuries from sports accidents and teeth grinding. These include dental damage, receding gums, dental work damage, soft tissue injuries, and oral pain.

Correcting these damages can be costly. For instance, you might need to replace a lost tooth with a dental implant or get surgery for jaw injuries. Wearing a mouthguard will save you thousands of dollars that you would have used for future dental treatments.

Getting a Custom Mouthguard

When considering mouthguards for bruxism and high-impact physical activities, I would recommend getting a custom-made nightguard or sports guard from your dentist.

Over-the-counter mouthguards are generic, meaning it might be challenging to find a perfect fit. Most generic guards tend to be bulky and ill-fitting, which can be uncomfortable and affect your breathing when sleeping or during sports.

Unlike generic guards, custom mouthguards fit according to your specific mouth structure. It ensures maximum protection, comfort, and durability.

Schedule an Appointment Today

For more information about custom mouthguards in Easton, PA, contact Maple Tree Dental.