Tag: mouth guards

Why Night Guards Are Important For Patients In Leopardstown

When you’re trying to take care of your teeth there are a number of different things you do, such as brushing, flossing, using mouthwash and even taking part in regular dental and hygiene check ups. But what many forget is that while you may be taking care of your teeth while you’re awake, you also need to take care of them while you sleep.

Dublin18 Dental Care near Leopardstown understands the importance of mouth guards to protect your teeth, and while you may think that they are mainly used to protect you whilst playing sport, you can also use them to protect your teeth while you sleep.

Night grinding

The most common need for a night guard is bruxism, which is the grinding or clenching of the teeth whilst you sleep. This can have a severe and damaging effect on your teeth and your jaw joint, as grinding your teeth whilst sleeping can wear the teeth through the enamel and into the dentin of your teeth and can loosen your teeth by destroying the bone supporting them. By wearing a night guard this problem can be dealt with as it distributes the bite forces evenly within your mouth, and acts as a barrier between any trauma that may be caused between the teeth and jawbones.

Night Guards

Dental night guards can also help those who suffer from snoring or mild sleep apnea, as the mouth guard can pull the lower jaw forward slightly which will open your airways and reduce the volume and frequency of the snoring. Many people who have used mouth guards have reported that other issues such as headaches and facial pains have also been reduced due to their use.

Night guards are also available in an array of forms such as soft night guards, hard/soft night guards and hard night guards. Contact the practice at Dublin18 Dental Care for more help and advice on night guards.

 

 

Back to School Sports Guards for Patients Near Dundrum

The GAA (Gaelic Athletic Association) congress recently passed a motion making it mandatory for juvenile players to wear mouth guards from the start of 2013. This rule will come into effect for senior player from the start of the following year. According to the IDA (Irish Dental Association), Ireland has one of the highest rates of sports related dental injuries in all of Europe. Unsurprisingly, they have shown great support for the ruling. Of course, this is only the tip of the issue; Mouth guards may now be obligatory, but the one size fits all mouth guard sold in most sports shops are the least effective of the guards available and ‘boil and bite’ guards aren’t a huge improvement. Sadly, it is these store-bought guards that make up 90% of the mouth guards used.

Custom fitted guards

The summer may be upon us, but it won’t be long till until the ‘back to school’ signs are up in the shops. If you your child will be playing contact sport and you really want to protect their pearly whites, then you might want to investigate in custom fitted mouth guards. One common complaint about stock guards is their impact on speech; as these guards lack retention, they must constantly be bitten down on so that they are held in place. This can lead to kids and adults alike altering the guards so that they are better held in place. Often these alterations completely negate what little protection the guards offered in the first place. Custom guards, in contrast, are custom fitted to the wearer’s teeth and will provide the highest degree of both comfort and protection that a mouth guard is currently capable of.

The process

Having a mouth guard fitted is a simple process which we at Dublin18 Dental Care near Dundrum are happy to provide. We will simply take an impression of your teeth and send it on to a dental lab. It really is as easy as that!