A common appliance that is used for patients that grind their teeth at night is a night guard.

First, let’s start off with the basics of grinding and clenching. Grinding and clenching your teeth while you sleep is very common. Most patients are unaware that they do this, as it occurs during their sleep. Clenching your teeth results in many tooth problems. When clenching and grinding occurs, the upper and lower teeth move back and forth which causes them to flatten each other out. This can result in cracked teeth, receding gums, pain in the nerves, and in some cases tooth loss. To fix these problems procedures such as roots canals, extractions, crowns or many others may have to be done. [Read more…]