Oral Appliances

  • Night guard for the grinder/clencher and the jaw joint pain

If you frequently wake up with sore jaw muscle or jaw joints, a chronic dull headache and sometimes neckache as well, teeth sensitive to chewing and temperature, cracked fillings or fractured teeth, teeth wearing down with flatter surfaces and becoming increasingly shorter, you might suffer from a dental occlusional condition called bruxism.  According to the data from the American Dental Association, it afflicts about 10-15% of the population who grind or clench their teeth knowingly or unknowingly.  Daily stress, high level of anxiety and sleep apnea are believed to be etiologically associated with bruxism.  

To protect your teeth, jaw muscle and jaw joints from bruxism when the teeth and jaw joints are subject to excessive occlusal forces beyond physiological capacity which causes jaw muscle spasm too, one of the first-line treatments is an individually customized night guard made with hard material of certain thickness and optimal occlusal design.   Night guard relaxes the jaw muscles and supports the jaw joints.  Patients typically wear it during sleep and the effect of pain relief can be observed within weeks.  Sometimes the guard is also worn during the day if the patient's symptoms are more severe.   Other than that, night guard prevents continuous wearing down of teeth and cracking dental restorations in patients who are grinders and clenchers. 

It usually takes two visits to make a night guard.  At the first visit, a mould of your teeth is taken and sent to the lab.  At the second visit, the dentist checks the fit of the guard, adjust the bite, explain to you how to wear it and how to care for it.  

 

  • Mandibular advancement device for sleep Apnea   

Sleep apnea is a serious sleep disorder with which patients stop breathing in varied duration and frequency during their sleep.  The consequence of sleep apnea is lack of consistent and adequate oxygen supply to the major organs of the body such as brain and heart, with time this disorder, if left untreated, causes a number of health problems such as high blood pressure, heart problem, stroke, headache, depression, ADHD etc.  

If you experience symptoms such as loud snoring; wake up with a sore and dry throat; sleepiness and lack of energy during the day; forgetfulness and mood change, see your primary care physician and be referred to a sleep physician for sleep apnea test and diagnosis.   When the diagnosis of sleep apnea is made, a CPAP machine is the treatment of choice for treating moderate and severe degree of sleep apnea.  However for mild degree of sleep apnea or severe degree of sleep apnea when some patients are not able to tolerate wearing the mask of the CPAP machine during sleep, the treatment alternative to CPAP machine, ie. a mandibular advancement oral appliance made by the dentist, becomes necessary for treating sleep apnea.   

Mandibular advancement device (MAD)   increases the airway diameter of the sleep apnea patients due to soft tissue collapse by advancing their lower jaw forward, therefore maintain the airflow and oxygen supply during the otherwise arrested breathing periods.  

 

  • Sports guard

Sports guard is a soft plastic appliance wearing in the mouth to protect the teeth and gum from severe   injury and damage during physical activities.    According to the data from the American Dental Association, about 30% dental injuries result from participation in sports. The use of a mouth guard has the potential to prevent around 200,000 oral injuries every single year. The failure to wear a mouth guard can cause all sorts of dental injuries including displaced teeth, fractured teeth, torn gum, cheek injury, knocked-out teeth and more. The bottom line is nearly every athlete should wear a mouth guard to help prevent a significant oral injury.

Sports guard is recommended for all contact sports and some non-contact sports.  Have a peace of mind by wearing the sports guard when other people’s elbow, the ball or a device might accidentally hit your mouth during the game.