While preventive dental care and good hygiene can prevent progressive dental issues, like cavities and gum disease, custom mouthguards help protect your smile from other hazards like damage to your teeth. If you or your child enjoys contact and/or extreme sports, or if you grind your teeth at night, then a custom-designed sports or night guard may be the best way to ensure that your teeth remain strong, healthy, and free of damage.
The Value of a Customized Guard
Mouthguards are often necessary in order to play a contact sport, especially for school-aged children. While you can find a variety of one-size-fits-all products in most sporting goods stores, a more effective and more comfortable option is to have one custom-designed by your dentist. A custom sports guard offers significantly more protection because it is designed specifically to fit the size, shape, and contour of your teeth. In cases of nighttime teeth-grinding (or bruxism), a nightguard can be designed to stop your teeth from rubbing against each other, which could eventually wear down their chewing surfaces or lead to structural damage. The custom guard is smaller than a sports guard, and is designed to remain comfortable enough to allow you to sleep soundly throughout the night.
Can You Benefit from a Custom Mouthguard?
Customized mouthguards can serve a variety of purposes, from making sports safer and more enjoyable to helping you address your nighttime teeth-grinding problem. To learn more, or to schedule your next dental exam/cleaning appointment, call Cosmetic & Implant Dentistry of Kansas City, today at 816-897-4288.