A mouthguard is a piece of soft plastic that your dentist can mold to your teeth. While they are popular to wear during sports activities, you can wear a special nightguard while you sleep to protect your teeth. If you want to keep your teeth healthy and protected, talk to your dentist about a custom mouthguard.
Teeth Grinding
Teeth grinding or bruxism is a condition in which someone grinds or clenches their teeth. Typically, this behavior occurs at night while the patient is asleep, making it a sleep condition.
However, there are some people who clench their teeth as a result of high emotions—stress, anxiety, anger, etc. In addition, teeth cannot handle the pressure of grinding against one another. As a result, you can experience many negative side effects.
People who grind their teeth are more likely to have broken or chipped teeth. This is because when the ridges of your teeth grind against each other, they are susceptible to breaking or chipping. Additionally, people with bruxism tend to have more frequent headaches than others.
This is because clenching and grinding your teeth causes the muscles in the jaw and neck to tighten, creating tension headaches. In addition, people who grind their teeth experience more wear on their teeth, eliminating the important ridges for eating.
Wearing a mouthguard can minimize the damage from grinding your teeth. The soft plastic creates a barrier between your teeth, equalizing the pressure. So even if you bite down hard, the mouthguard will protect your teeth.
Sports Activity
When playing sports, there is a risk of injury or dental trauma. One of the most common injuries while playing sports involves dental trauma. Most people think that there is only a risk for injury while playing contact sports like football or hockey.
However, it is possible to receive a dental injury in lower-impact sports, such as basketball or soccer. If there are balls and players, you are at risk for dental injury.
In addition, thinking that team sports are the only way for you to experience dental injury is incorrect. For example, participating in sports like mountain biking or rock climbing carries its own risks for dental trauma. You could slip and hit the rocks or fall off your bike. Either way, you can lose a tooth or seriously hurt yourself if you don’t wear a mouthguard.
Wearing a mouthguard places a barrier between your teeth and whatever force will damage your teeth. The difference between a sore mouth and missing teeth can be a mouthguard. Because of the materials, the soft plastic provides cushion to the teeth from outside forces. Additionally, a mouthguard can reduce the effects of a concussion.
For example, football is a sport that produces many concussions. This is because it is a high-impact, high-contact sport. If a player runs into another, their teeth can clack together, which can increase the severity of a concussion. However, a mouthguard can protect the teeth from breaking and reduce the chances of a concussion.