When you start looking around for a mouth guard, it is easy to end up "bamboozled." To be fair, it is not easy to know what mouth guard suits your condition the best. It needs to do a good job and be comfortable at the same time. It could even be a good idea to have both a soft and a hard guard.
Hard vs. Soft Night Guards for Teeth Grinding - Which is better?
Of course, you should listen to advice from your dentist. At the same time, it is important to find a mouth guard that you feel comfortable using. After all, this is all about you stopping yourself from grinding your teeth. There are numerous choices available. Don't rush into buying a teeth grinding guard, focus on buying a mouth guard which is comfortable and does not feel awkward.
Soft Mouth Guards
This is the most affordable option. If you are not a "heavy grinder", a soft mouth guard is the option that would suit you the best. The choice of your mouth guard depends very much on when you grind your teeth. If you only grind your teeth at night, a soft mouth guard is a good choice. A soft mouth guard is much more comfortable when you sleep. It is also much easier to get used to wearing a soft guard at night.
Hard Mouth Guards
One of the downsides of hard mouth guards is that they are less comfortable to wear. They are made from hard acrylic material and will feel very rigid in your mouth. It is important that you have your hard mouth guard fitted by a dentist when you have a serious problem. There are ready-made options available but many of them only cover the top half of the teeth. Nevertheless, they are a good option as they make wearing a hard grinding guard more comfortable.
Which One Should I Choose?
It is not always easy to point someone in the right direction. It has to be said that you must be comfortable wearing your mouth guard. The only thing that is going to happen when you are not comfortable wearing your teeth grinding guard, is that you will one day stop wearing it. That defeats the object of investing in a mouth guard. It is always best to buy a mouth guard which is both comfortable to wear and stops the grinding of your teeth.
In Conclusion
Mouth guards are not the monstrosities they used to be. Thanks to new materials and compounds, they have come a long way. If your dentist or other medical professional recommends you to wear a mouth guard, don't think for one minute it is going to take over your life.