hi I'm Dr Agatha in this video I'm going to talk about teeth grinding and night guards to
prevent it, and five key things to look out for in your night guard so you don't make your
condition worse and these five key things many dentists don't even know about these can cause
your night guard to make your symptoms worse so in this video I'm going to not only show you what
those are I'm also going to share with you how to correct these things so that your night guard not
only feels great but works for you long term and in addition to those five key things I'm going to
give you a bonus tip for some of you it can make a huge difference in how the night guard makes you
feel and how much it helps or makes things worse and I would love to hear from you if your night
guard has one or more of these things I'm going to show you so please take a minute to comment below
the first thing to look at in your night guard is whether it's made from a hard or a soft material
so what do I mean by that does the night guard Bend when you squeeze it why is that important
well it has to do with whether you grind or clench your teeth the type of material your
night guard is made from can make your teeth grinding worse many people think that deep
grinding is not a big deal it may seem like that at the beginning but I have patients say
to me all the time well how long am I going to live so why would this matter but it does
and you don't know how long it will live and is this the way you want to spend the
last years of your life living without teeth so at the beginning you get a little bit of
wear not a big deal right and you get more wear you still think not a big deal or could
it be now it definitely ages you and you get severe aware and to fix this it would require
a massive work crowns implants root canals tons of money then you feel Let It Go Again just get
no teeth what else are you not thinking about TMD some people who grind actually many end up
having massive pain in the jaw and ear problems TMD stands for temporo-mandibular joint disorder
If you grind your teeth and you don't do anything about it there's a high chance you will develop
job paying headaches you might already have these and just not even realize they're related to your
grinding or maybe you have a click in your jaw sometimes that's the first thing people notice
but all of these are signs and symptoms of TMD so if you grind or clench your teeth it is really
important that your night guard is made from a hard acrylic not soft and the reason is if you
have a soft guard you will grind or clench more on it and that's not what we're trying
to do right think about it if I ask you to hold something hard like a rock between your teeth are
you going to grind or clench on it no but what if I put something soft and chewy like a piece
of gum or soft candy your teeth automatically go to chew it tip number two upper or lower this is
an upper Night Guard or a lower Night Guard does it sit on your top teeth or on your bottom teeth
actually be quite important for many people who grind and have some TMD symptoms and this will
make a big difference especially when tied to tip number five that I'm going to share with you later
on so hang in there because this will surprise many of you tons of night guards are made like
this and that's bad for a grinder so if you're a grinder and especially if you're beginning to
develop some TMD symptoms you want a lower Night Guard but wait till tip number five because it
will depend on whether or not your night guard also has that part built into it tip number three
even back to the support do your back teeth touch evenly on the night guard
when you put your night guard in and you bite down on it does it feel like your teeth are touching
evenly so if it's an upper Night Guard it'll be the bottom teeth touching and if it's a lower
Night Guard it'll be the top teeth touching here's how you can check this at home if you're not sure
you can use a thin piece of paper and put it between your teeth and your night guard
in different areas on the back and bite down and then tug on the paper the paper holds that
means your sheets are touching if you can pull your paper through they're not touching so if
you have say the right side touching and the left side not touching then you know that you
don't have even back to support we want your back teeth to touch not the front teeth just the back
do they feel pretty even compare the right side to the left side if so great if not
feel like the one side touches first and the other one less or they're not even at all that can cause
you to grind on the side where it touches more and some people will have discomfort or even pain
on the side where it doesn't touch and the reason is that your jaw muscles are going to try and get
your teeth to touch you're going to pull on the side where you don't and this can cause the jaw to
rotate up into your skull and that can cause pain ringing in the ear and many other TMD symptoms
tip number four canine guidance so this tip is not as critical as the next one I'm going to
share with you and then the next one is the most important one especially in someone who already
has TMD symptoms so hang in there with me. Canine guidance is when you slide your jaw to the side
I'm going to show you on the models so it's easier to see but when you jaw slides to the side the
only teeth touching or guiding your slide are the canines these pointy teeth although they're
not always pointy in a grinder these teeth are supposed to guide your slide not the other teeth
so check that on each side and see if your night guard has canine guidance on both sides this isn't
as critical in most cases but if your night guard has it that's a good thing and I am going to talk
about this in in other videos okay we're into tip number five no anterior platform so this is really
an important thing in a night guard especially for a TMD patient here's what an anterior platform
needs I made this night guard to show you an exaggerated version of an anterior platform
it may be difficult to see having this in your night guard is not a good thing so when
you have a Night Guard if you go to slide forward like this the only teeth touching
the night guard are the front teeth like this then your night guard has an anterior platform
so here you can see that when I slide forward the only teeth touching are the front teeth
and you can see a big space in the back and if the platform is small it's difficult to see and you're
not sure you can easily check that with paper like this so if you put the paper in slide a little
bit and the paper's still tugging you're good, if you can pull the paper through in the back
then you don't have contacts check back teeth and check the front teeth in sliding motion and then
you know the front teeth are holding the paper and the back teeth don't then you have an anterior
platform and that's not good the reason for this is more complex and I am doing another video on
this topic so if you want to be notified if that video comes up subscribe but for now this is a
really important thing to have in a night guard so here's your bonus tip canine guidance or posterior
contacts here's a challenge for you you now know that anterior platform is not good so the opposite
is good right and post your reply form is good the back teeth touching that's a good thing bring
your slide forward you also know that if you have canine guidance that is also good so what's better
to have posterior guidance platform or canine guidance the answer is either one is good but
if you have too much canine guidance let's say your canines are super long and they create a
massive space in the back instantly as soon as you slide that may be too much and need to be reduced
a bit or if you have the very back teeth touch but the very back ones like when you slide forward you
may end up with some muscle tension so that may also need to be adjusted or reduced a bit so speak
to your dentist about either one of those but I hope these tips help you with your night guard and
teeth grinding and don't forget to subscribe below for more videos like this one thanks for watching