First question you should ask yourself is What do do with tooth pain? Protecting your teeth is extremely important, regardless of whether you play a contact sport or you simply have problems grinding your teeth at night. In order to do this, one of the best courses of action is to implement some sort of a mouth guard. A mouth guard is made from an impression of your teeth and is rather straight forward to use. However, there are different mouth guards for different issues and activities. Due to this, knowing the difference between a custom mouth guard and a night guard is important, not to mention it is going to help you select the right guard for your particular needs.
Custom Fit Mouth Guard
A traditional custom fit mouth guard is generally something you wear for protection while playing a sport. There are different reasons as to why you might wear a mouth guard, based on the sport you play. Football players and hockey players wear a mouth guard on a regular basis due to the nature of the sport. However, other sports are now seeing more and more people wear a mouth guard. This includes sports such as basketball, volleyball, baseball and any other sport where there is a chance someone might be struck in the mouth. A custom mouth guard is going to provide you with added protection as it both absorbs the impact that occurs when a ball or elbow strikes the mouth, plus it also helps reduce the shock the mouth might feel as well. If puck strikes a tooth, it is going to send all of the energy from the traveling puck into the tooth, which is not able to absorb this much energy, causing it to crack, chip, break or simply rip out. With the help of the custom fit mouth guard, the plastic material is a solid piece, so not only does it absorb the shock but it also sends the blow throughout the entire guard, reducing the overall impact the teeth might sustain.
There are different ways to obtain such a mouth guard. It is possible to cast some rather desirable mouth guards at home. Some are simply the plastic and rubber based mouth guards, while others have additional shock absorbers built into the guards. If you feel more comfortable having a dentist create the mouth guard for you, these often are made up of a higher quality material, so if you have already invested a good amount of money into the dental care of yourself or your child, this might be a desirable option for you. Either way though, the custom mouth guard is created by taking a molding of the teeth. The dentist might use a specific technique to do this, but at home you are just going to boil the mouth guard in water, then bite down on it and hold it in position for a few seconds until it cools.
Night Mouth Guard
A night mouth guard is slightly different than a custom mouth guard. While it is a custom fit, taken from a mold of your teeth, it is done for a different purpose. Many individuals grind their teeth at night without any sort of control. This can cause pain in your jaw, not to mention it also can wear down your teeth as well. Due to this, you really need to protect your mouth from this practice through the aid of a night mouth guard. The night mouth guard is different in construction from the regular mouth guard. A night mouth guard is much slimmer in size. It is not designed to absorb shock or a sudden blow to the mouth, but instead just prevent the teeth from grinding. Due to this, it is extremely slender and fits over the top of the teeth. Once in place, the teeth are not able to grind or flex like they might without the mouth guard. All of this is possible, without weighing the mouth down or feeling like a bulky guard is in the mouth. A night mouth guard is generally produced at the dentist's office due to the size of the material. With a custom mouth guard, the material is rather thick so it is easy to cast one at home, but this is not as likely with the night mouth guard.
Protecting your teeth is very important, but at times you do need assistance. In order to do this on your own you need to sometimes use a mouth guard, whether it is for preventing your teeth from grinding at night or to protect your teeth during a contact sport. Regardless, the inexpensive mouth guard can save and protect your teeth exceptionally well.
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