At Pearl Smile Dental, we understand how painful oral injuries can get. An emergency dental appointment can differ the situation, they can be either to save or to lose your tooth.
Get Fast Treatment for Your Tooth Pain
If you are in severe pain right now, because of your cracked/chipped tooth, your crown, or is feeling a numb sensation and a severe toothache because of your wisdom tooth.
Loosened or broken/fractured teeth, misaligned teeth, and knocked out teeth are three examples of an emergency case. In these cases, your gums, cheeks and lips are often injured, too.
We advise that you see an emergency and reliable dentist as soon as possible because we know how painful oral injuries can get. Getting to your emergency dentist within half an hour for an emergency dental appointment can differ the situation, they can be either to save or to lose your tooth.
A mouth guard – also called night guard, occlusal guard, occlusal splint, bite guard, mouth piece, etc. – is a protective device that covers the teeth and gums to prevent and/or reduce injury
Dental professionals recommend guards as a solution to many problems in addition to their preventive use for athletes.
- Bruxism – the technical term for clenching or grinding the teeth. A mouth guard can alleviate the symptoms of bruxism by offering a slick barrier between the upper and lower teeth, such that they slide against each other instead of applying pressure and grinding down.
- TMD – disorders of the temporomandibular joint, the joint that connects the lower jaw to the rest of the skull. An occlusal guard in this situation alleviates pressure on the joint and helps to reduce strain.
- Application of topical medication – MI Paste, corticosteroids, and other medication for oral conditions can sometimes be conveniently delivered using a mouth guard, which keeps the medicine in place against the teeth and gums longer.
- Risk of dental trauma – if you regularly engage in high-impact activities such as sports, a mouth guard can help prevent injury by acting as a barrier and softening any potential impact to the teeth.
- Aesthetic enhancement and protection – similar to its use in delivering medication, mouth guards can be used to apply bleaching gel to whiten teeth. An occlusal guard may also be recommended to provide extra protection for certain more delicate tooth restorations (temporary crowns, veneers, etc.)
Today there are three types of mouth guards on the market:
- Stock, or Ready-Made: This over-the-counter night guard is the most economical option, but rarely recommended by dentists. Since these guards are bought pre-formed, they are often ill-fitting and bulky, and can make talking and breathing more difficult.
- Mouth adapted, or “Boil and Bite”: These can also be purchased over-the-counter at many sporting goods stores. While still not ideal, this type of guard is a step above the preformed ones – here you heat the guard to soften it, then bite into the guard to adapt the shape to your mouth.
- Custom-made: Naturally, something crafted to the exact specifications of your teeth and bite is going to offer you the best protection. We offer two types of custom made mouth guards in our office – a soft occlusal guard for the lower teeth that we fabricate on site, and a hard upper guard that we work with an area lab to produce. Each type of night guard involves the same simple, two-step process. We first bring you in for a set of impressions so we know exactly what we need to fabricate. Impressions for mouth guards are quick and easy, taking only about 15 minutes to accomplish. We then bring you back in a week to a week and a half to pick up your appliance, make sure everything fits and deliver any additional instructions needed. Simple as pie!