the Price of a Mouth Guard

Due to the fact that I grind my teeth and clinch my jaw at night, my dentist told me I needed a nighttime mouth guard. I was grinding one of my front teeth so badly, that it was obviously shorter than the tooth right beside it! At first I tried one of those buy it yourself numbers where you boil a pre-made guard in water and then mold it to your teeth. That did not work well at all. The next step was to get approval from my insurance to get the guard made. They approved it and paid for 1/2 of the $600.00 bill, so I only had to pay $300.00 total. The service included making a cast of my teeth/mouth, shipping that cast off to a lab so they could make the guard, and having the guard fitted.

I truly hated having to spend this kind of money on a guard, but am sure if I had not done it I would have lost that front tooth. It was hard to get used to the guard, but now its just 2nd nature to go to sleep with it in my mouth. I wake up with my jaws much less tired too! The molding process was very uncomfortable, but none of the process hurt. I love my dentist and credit her with saving many of my teeth.

If you are having jaw pain in the morning or tooth pain, see your dentist. You may have TMJ or grinding issues and could really harm your teeth. It may seem like a lot of money, but its still cheaper than dentures and a lot less painful! Definitely try the over the counter guards first. They only cost about $20.00. They did not work for me but do for many people.