The American Dental Association advises you to visit your general dentist at least once every six months. Visiting a Greenwich general dentistry practitioner for a routine dental examination or checkup No Scars Cream will allow a thorough analysis of your oral structures and early detection of underlying dental issues like bleeding, tooth decay, cavities, and oral cancer. Your general dentist may recommend a mouthguard to protect your teeth against further damage.
Also known as a night guard, a mouthguard is a device made of plastic that you may wear to cover all or part of your teeth as you sleep.
Consequently, below are reasons you may need to wear a mouthguard at night.
Prevents the accumulation of plaque
A sports mouthguard will cover your teeth and gums to protect them against blunt trauma.
However, wearing a sports mouthguard at night can promote the accumulation of harmful bacteria on the surface of your gums while you sleep. That is because the sports mouthguard significantly limits exposure of your gums to saliva. Saliva makes the environment in your mouth less acidic so that you are not susceptible to tooth decay, cavities, and plaque development since food debris gets washed away.
On the other hand, a nightguard has holes, allowing contact between your saliva and your teeth and gums to discourage plaque buildup.
Protects the teeth against damage
When you wear a night guard, your bottom and top teeth will not come into direct contact. Therefore, a night guard is suitable if you unconsciously grind, clench, and gnash your teeth while sleeping. Grinding, clenching, or gnashing your teeth causes the loss of their protective outer layer.
Erosion of the enamel increases the sensitivity of your teeth and makes you more susceptible to infections, cavities, and decay. Also, your affected teeth may chip or break.
Teeth grinding can also damage your dental fillings if you are not wearing a night guard.
Minimizes tension and pain in your jaws
Clenching your jaw can cause tension in your joints and muscles that control speech, chewing, and allowing, leading to temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMD).
Wearing a mouthguard as you sleep reduces jaw joint and muscle pain and tension.
Alleviates headaches
Clenching and grinding your teeth during sleep creates tension that spreads into your neck and head. When you grind or clench your teeth excessively, it causes your muscles to be tense and sore, causing pain in your jaw, ear, and neck.
A night guard can protect you against the tension headaches you often feel due to bruxism in the morning.
Reduces loud snores
If you are snoring, you will annoy and disrupt the sleep of the person you share a bed with at night. By wearing a night guard, your snoring will be less noisy for your partner. That is possible as a night guard adjusts the position of your jaw and teeth, allowing easier air passage in your airways.
Contact Greenwich Dentistry today to schedule an appointment and learn more about services that deliver general oral hygiene maintenance and tooth health.
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