Summary
A bite splint (or night guard) is worn over the teeth at night and protects the teeth from each other.
A bite splint supports the joint and stretches the jaw muscles each night.
The big picture
Our lives are stressful. The constant level of engagement in our modern world leads to the situation where our muscles are primed to act, including our jaw muscles. When we are focussed, we tend to clench our teeth. Our modern work postures (with our heads down to work) also squeezes our chins up and then our teeth contact and we start to clench. And then, just to complicate it further, when we go to sleep our body tends to clench and grind with forces far in excess to normal daytime forces.
This can lead to a lot of problems. One of the first things people notice is headache pain. You will see people at their desks rubbing their temples. The temporalis muscles are one of the main muscle groups that are used in clenching. People also come in with what they think is a terrible aching jaw pain that they think is from a tooth ache. We can feel their muscles (specifically their masseter muscle) and they are all knotted and painful.
Secondarily, patients start to notice that their jaw is clicking or locking. This is from an irregularity in their temporo-mandibular joint where the joint and the disc in that joint are damaged through either acute trauma, or through continual stress from their grinding.
Thirdly, patients will come in with their teeth or restorations fracturing regularly.
Teeth can start to get looser from the over load. Or they can get much more sensitive. The teeth can be worn down, or chipping.
The damage from this enormous pressure and grinding forces can literally fracture tooth roots in the bone. This all sounds terribly dramatic, but the level of the effects varies enormously from person to person. Our treatment levels go from simple advice, to some basic physio exercises and to bite splints. Sometimes a patient will need to be referred to a specialist because of the severity of the issue.
A bite splint or night guard is an appliance that is worn over the teeth at night and helps to cover the teeth. This acts by protecting the teeth from each other, by supporting the joint, by stretching the jaw muscles a touch each night, and by changing the brains perception of where the normal biting position lies.
We hear mixed reports about their comfort. We have a lady patient who has quite frankly told us that it is the most important thing in her life. Without it she was heading for a divorce, and her life was a misery of continual pain. But some patients wear them grudgingly, and only because they must. We would say that the majority of patients are happy with their splints, and (more tellingly) that almost everyone who works at this practice has a splint.
