I collected my night guard from the dentist today.
Far be it from me to not embrace this with wild enthusiasm, but I suspect sleeping with a mouth full of plastic is going to be somewhat challenging.
We will soon find out.
The exciting part was getting a very cool 3D printed model of my upper teeth! I suppose not waking up with an aching jaw will also be a bonus.
♥
My dentist keeps suggesting a night guard and I keep saying I have enough trouble sleeping as it is! And I don’t have jaw pain. I think she’s looking at recession from long-ago overbrushing (which I don’t do anymore), and thinking that I grind at night, which I don’t. Since it seems you do have the aching jaw, I hope the guard helps, but for anyone else who’s thinking about it, I’d say address pain, but you don’t have to go for a guard if you have gum recession from some other cause.
I think expecting this to be very difficult was by far the best thing I could have done!
It’s been surprisingly easy to adjust to wearing it. And I’m definitely noticing the difference already. For me it was really about preventing further damage to my teeth, occasional pain was secondary. I clench my teeth quite a lot in my sleep with quite some force.
I’m struggling to understand why a guard would prevent recession.
I am a tooth grinder and I’ve had a guard for more than 15 years and while I don’t sleep with it every night, I do frequently and honestly, while it feels super tight when it goes in, I get used to it very quickly. And honestly, I do wake up thinking that my jaw is way less tight.
It’s excellent to hear success stories!
It was surprisingly easy to adjust to. I’m quite glad I was expecting it to be incredibly difficult – even the small inconveniences are nothing much.
I’m a teeth clencher (with some force) and I’m waking much more relaxed.