Protection

Mouthguards and night guards

A moulded shield worn over the teeth — at night against grinding, on the pitch against a blow. It is the least expensive appliance in the clinic and the one that most often prevents the most expensive work.

Visits: Two
Made in: 2–4 days
Worn: At night, or in sport
Lifespan: 2–5 years

What it is

Grinding and clenching happen mostly in your sleep, which is why people usually learn about it from a dentist rather than from themselves. The forces involved are far higher than chewing, and they are applied for hours: enamel wears flat, teeth crack, fillings and crowns fail early, and the jaw joint and its muscles take the rest. A night guard does not stop the habit — it puts a layer of acrylic between the teeth so the guard takes the wear instead of the enamel.

A sports guard is a different job with the same principle: absorbing and spreading the energy of an impact so it does not arrive at one front tooth. Anything with contact, a stick, a ball or a floor is worth one.

What neither of them does is move teeth. A guard is not a retainer and a retainer is not a guard, and a clinic should be plain about which one you are being made — they are made to different shapes for opposite purposes.

Almost nobody knows they grind. The evidence turns up as flattened teeth and cracked crowns, and by then it has been going on for years.
Dr. Kaan

Which one you need

Night guard
A hard acrylic guard made to your bite, worn on one arch. The one that saves teeth — and the one that protects veneers and crowns once you have had them.
Grinding, clenching, jaw pain on waking
Sports guard
Thicker and softer, made to absorb an impact. Custom-made ones stay put and let you speak; the boil-and-bite kind mostly get spat out.
Contact sport, at any age
Retainer
A different appliance with a different job: holding straightened teeth where they were put. Teeth drift back for years without one, and this is the part of orthodontics that never finishes.
After braces or aligners
Splint for the jaw joint
Made to reposition the bite rather than only to cover it, and used where the problem is the joint and its muscles rather than the teeth.
Clicking, locking, morning headaches

What happens to you

Two visits, and a wait at home in between

The examination
Reading the wear
Flattened tips, tiny cracks, sensitivity, a jaw that aches on waking. The teeth carry the record of what happens while you sleep.
Day 1
The scan
A digital scan of both arches and of how they meet. A guard that does not match the bite exactly gets worn twice and then abandoned.
2–4 days
The laboratory
Made in our own laboratory in the building, in the thickness the case needs — heavier for a strong grinder, thinner where comfort decides whether it gets worn.
Fitting
Adjustment
Fitted and ground in against your bite until it sits evenly. The first few nights feel strange and most people stop noticing it within a fortnight.
Afterwards
Keeping it
Rinse and brush it in the morning, keep it dry in a vented case, and never in hot water — heat distorts it. Bring it to check-ups: how it has worn shows how hard you grind.

The examination
Reading the wear
Flattened tips, tiny cracks, sensitivity, a jaw that aches on waking. The teeth carry the record of what happens while you sleep.
Day 1
The scan
A digital scan of both arches and of how they meet. A guard that does not match the bite exactly gets worn twice and then abandoned.
2–4 days
The laboratory
Made in our own laboratory in the building, in the thickness the case needs — heavier for a strong grinder, thinner where comfort decides whether it gets worn.
Fitting
Adjustment
Fitted and ground in against your bite until it sits evenly. The first few nights feel strange and most people stop noticing it within a fortnight.
Afterwards
Keeping it
Rinse and brush it in the morning, keep it dry in a vented case, and never in hot water — heat distorts it. Bring it to check-ups: how it has worn shows how hard you grind.

The examination
Reading the wear
Flattened tips, tiny cracks, sensitivity, a jaw that aches on waking. The teeth carry the record of what happens while you sleep.
Day 1
The scan
A digital scan of both arches and of how they meet. A guard that does not match the bite exactly gets worn twice and then abandoned.
2–4 days
The laboratory
Made in our own laboratory in the building, in the thickness the case needs — heavier for a strong grinder, thinner where comfort decides whether it gets worn.
Fitting
Adjustment
Fitted and ground in against your bite until it sits evenly. The first few nights feel strange and most people stop noticing it within a fortnight.
Afterwards
Keeping it
Rinse and brush it in the morning, keep it dry in a vented case, and never in hot water — heat distorts it. Bring it to check-ups: how it has worn shows how hard you grind.

The examination
Reading the wear
Flattened tips, tiny cracks, sensitivity, a jaw that aches on waking. The teeth carry the record of what happens while you sleep.
Day 1
The scan
A digital scan of both arches and of how they meet. A guard that does not match the bite exactly gets worn twice and then abandoned.
2–4 days
The laboratory
Made in our own laboratory in the building, in the thickness the case needs — heavier for a strong grinder, thinner where comfort decides whether it gets worn.
Fitting
Adjustment
Fitted and ground in against your bite until it sits evenly. The first few nights feel strange and most people stop noticing it within a fortnight.
Afterwards
Keeping it
Rinse and brush it in the morning, keep it dry in a vented case, and never in hot water — heat distorts it. Bring it to check-ups: how it has worn shows how hard you grind.

Questions

Can a night guard straighten my teeth?

No. A guard protects; a retainer holds; braces and aligners move. If somebody offers you a guard to fix crooked teeth, ask which of the three they actually mean.

Is a chemist's boil-and-bite guard good enough?

For occasional use it is better than nothing. It is bulkier, it fits approximately, and an approximate fit on a heavy grinder puts uneven load on particular teeth — which is the problem it was bought to solve.

Will it stop my jaw hurting?

Often it helps a great deal, because most morning jaw pain comes from a night of clenching. Where the joint itself is the problem, a splint designed for the joint is the appliance rather than a plain guard.

Do I need one after veneers or crowns?

If you grind, yes — and it is not an upsell. Ceramic is hard and brittle; a grinder without a guard is the commonest way an expensive smile gets chipped in its first year.

How long does one last?

Two to five years, and less for a heavy grinder. It is a consumable: the guard wearing down is the guard doing its job, and it is cheaper to replace than a tooth.

Patients

The people who already came

Six of our patients, filmed at the clinic and talking about their own treatment. They are the clinic’s patients rather than any one procedure’s — what each of them had is in the film.