Mouthguards in Richmond Hill

There are two common types of mouthguards available at our Richmond Hill dental office: sports guards and nightguards. They are both guards worn inside the mouth, but the reasons for which they are worn differ.

Sports guards

Many sports such as hockey and football involve a high level of physical contact which is dangerous to your teeth. For this reason, sports guards protect your teeth from trauma and are important in preventing concussions, damaged teeth, and nerve damage. Sports guards protect hundreds of thousands of dental injuries each year, and damaged teeth are the most expensive sports injury to fix.

While you can get over-the-counter sports guards, these are not recommended by our Richmond Hill dental team because they are not custom-fitted to your mouth. Custom-fitted sports guards are important because they protect important structures in your mouth much better than over-the-counter ones.

It is much better to be safe than sorry, so if you or your children play sports, make sure to add sports guards to your list of things to get from our Richmond Hill dentistry!

Nightguards

Another type of mouthguard is a nightguard, which protects your teeth from bruxism (the unconscious habit of grinding teeth during sleep) or clenching. Bruxism and clenching can lead to other sleep disorders such as sleep apnea and can affect the quality of sleep of both the person affected by it and any potential bed partners.

Many people suffer from bruxism/clenching and don't even realize it! Common signs of teeth grinding include:

• Sore facial muscles
• Headaches in the morning
• Locked or tired jaw
• Sensitive, fractured, and/or flattened teeth

In addition, some risk factors of bruxism/clenching include:

• Stress: people are more likely to grind their teeth when they are stressed
• Age: bruxism is more common in children
• Aggressive/hyperactive personality type
• Family history of bruxism

If you feel that you may suffer from bruxism or clenching, please don't hesitate to contact us for a nightguards appointment. Similar to sports guards, nightguards work by protecting the teeth from trauma with a thin plastic layer. Nightguards from our Richmond Hill dental office are custom-fitted to your mouth for maximum comfort and safety.

Again, while over-the-counter nightguards are available (and tempting because they are convenient to get), our Richmond Hill dentist Dr. Martino does not recommend them because they are not durable, can hinder breathing and speech, and are not as effective.

Book an appointment today to get custom-fitted nightguards or sports guards and protect your teeth from damage!