Many people unwittingly clench their jaws, but habitual teeth grinding is a matter of concern. Grinding one’s teeth together repeatedly can result in headaches and severe jaw or facial pain. A quality mouth guard can prevent grinding by creating a barrier between your teeth.
With that in mind, we’ve put together a list of the best over-the-counter teeth grinding mouth guards. We’ll also explain what to look for in a mouth guard and answer any questions you may have before making your final choice.
Thanks to its unique combination of comfort, durability, affordability, customization, and lifetime renewal, the Smile Brilliant night guard is the ideal treatment for teeth clenching and grinding. Unlike other over-the-counter guards, the Smile Brilliant night guard is ultra-thin, very durable, and soft and comfortable to wear while sleeping.
The eight OTC mouth guard options below have been proven to relieve the symptoms of teeth grinding, especially when sleeping.
Smile Brilliant night guards are one of the best mouth protectors you can get without a referral to a specialist. Instead of slipping out of place or irritating your gums like other night guards, the Smile Brilliant Night Guard is custom-made to suit your teeth perfectly. The night guard is designed to protect against symptoms of bruxism, including nighttime jaw clenching and grinding of the teeth.
Smile Brilliant keeps your teeth impressions on file, so that reordering is quick and easy. The impression kit, lab service, and delivery of your custom-fitted night guards are included in each of their packages. You’ll get an extra set of impression material to produce your molds in case your first attempt isn’t ideal.
The only downside is that the night guards only come in one thickness, so if you want a guard thicker than 2mm, you’ll have to look elsewhere.
Smile Brilliant night guard is a professionally made night guard that is custom-fitted to your teeth and comes with cost-effective lifetime services. It’s one of the best nightguards on the market.
Night mouth guards aren’t cheap. A mouth guard from a dentist costs between $300 and $800, but you can save up to 80% with Remi. Remi’s night guard is one of the most affordable high-quality options, costing $169 for a single guard kit or $129 if you join the biannual club.
Remi mouth guards are fully customizable, allowing them to fit any mouth or teeth shape. They’re long-lasting, comfortable, and come with a storage box to keep contamination at bay. You can choose from three different thicknesses for your night guards (1mm, 1.3mm, and 2mm) based on your needs at no additional cost.
Remi is leading the way when it comes to affordable direct-to-consumer night protectors. The process is straightforward: Remi sends you an impression kit by mail, you complete it at home, return the impression kit to Remi, and two weeks later, you’ll have your fully custom dental guards delivered to your door.
While the guards are of good quality, they are thin, so they might not be the most durable option for severe teeth grinders.
As another custom-fitted option, the Remi nightguard is designed for maximum comfort while wearing.
Meyarn’s mouth guard helps keep your mouth safe and protected while you sleep. This mouth guard is also BPA-free, so you don’t have to worry about toxins or chemicals. If you’re looking for a natural solution to relieve headaches or joint discomfort caused by light to moderate grinding without taking medication, the Meyarn Dental Night Guard may be an inexpensive option.
However, Meyarn night guards are not a substitute for a visit to your dentist. Make an appointment with your dentist before using Meyarn if you have any loose fillings or teeth, recurrent jaw pain, or have been diagnosed by your dentist with TMD.
Made from EVA material, Meyarn mouth guards are soft and comfortable, making them ideal for those with teeth sensitivity.
TeethNightGuard.com is a private dental practice that specializes in dentist-lab-quality dental guards for teeth grinding, clenching, TMJ, and other jaw joint disorders. TeethNightGuard.com offers three distinct varieties of mouth guards according to your teeth grinding level: light, moderate, or severe.
TeethNightGuard.com provides a simple solution to alleviate the adverse effects of teeth grinding and clenching. Its teeth grinding mouth guards are custom-made to suit your teeth and safeguard them. There’s a 100% satisfaction guarantee and a 30-day trial, so you can get a refund if you’re not happy with the outcome.
Each customized mouthguard is backed by a six-month warranty. To make reordering easier, their lab keeps imprints for five years if you opt for the Storage & Savings Plan.
If you grind your teeth on a regular basis, you’ll need to look for an extra-durable night guard. Cheeky is the most robust and durable night guard designed for heavy grinders and clenchers.
Available in different thickness levels from 1.5mm to 3mm, Cheeky ensures comprehensive protection regardless of the severity of your condition. This mouth guard fits over your upper or lower teeth to protect tooth enamel by preventing contact.
Cheeky mouth guards are made with 100% FDA-approved materials, machinery, and processes. Nothing more than ordering a home impression kit and dedicating some time to the molding process is required.
Bottom Line:
Because every teeth grinder has unique needs, Cheeky offers both soft and hard/soft mouth guards in any thickness for both the upper and lower teeth.
The thicker the mouth guard, the more likely it is to prevent teeth grinding and clenching at night in people with severe bruxism. Because of its solid structure, the Sentinel night dental guard is a long-lasting solution for severe teeth grinders. Choose from various thicknesses and materials for a soft or hard mouth guard that’s right for you.
The mouth guards are effective in alleviating jaw discomfort, teeth sensitivity, and headaches. In addition, your veneers, crowns, and restorative dental work will be protected as well. The only issue customers have had is the impression kits not working as intended and having to re-do them to get the correct shape for their mouth guard.
Sentinal provides some of the most long-lasting mouth guards for teeth available. Even if you are a heavy grinder, it is possible that it may last for several years with proper care.
The ASRL mouth guard is ideal for those who suffer from tooth sensitivity as a result of excessive grinding—most often caused by clenched jaw muscles. ASRL dental guards are made of a flexible, rubber-like elastomer polymer that can be readily molded in hot water and fit in any tooth pattern.
The upper guard is made of BPA-free and phthalates-free medical grade materials to ensure your health. The ASRL dental guard is not only ideal for teeth grinding, but it can also be used as a teeth whitening tray for whitening purposes and as an athletic mouth guard to protect against sports-related impacts to the upper teeth.
The ASRL Dental Guard is appropriate for individuals who suffer from tooth sensitivity as a result of excessive grinding.
This mouth guard is trimmed to be more comfortable. The flexible but durable EVA material provides you with the safety and comfort you need to sleep soundly.
Sporting Smiles is known for its sports mouth guards, but they also offer a variety of mouth guards models specifically developed to alleviate bruxism symptoms. They offer six different night guards to combat the clenching and grinding of the teeth, including a day teeth grinding guard. Each type is created with the intention of making them more comfortable and unobtrusive.
The procedure is identical to that of Smile Brilliant—you take impressions of your teeth at home and then send them into a dental lab to have your mouth guards created. Sporting Smiles maintains your records only for a year, making it simple to reorder new guards or mouth guards, but just within this timeframe.
The Sporting Smiles Mouth Guard is a custom-fitting protective cover that fits snugly over your teeth and gums, cushioning and protecting them.
Oral health professionals frequently attribute bruxism to excessive stress, anxiety, anger, frustration, or tension [1]. Bruxism may also occur due to upper respiratory airway obstruction caused by sleep apnea [2].
Like many other conditions, Bruxism varies in severity, and while very mild cases may not necessitate professional care, others do. Consequently, it is important to distinguish between two basic types of bruxism, each of which may require a distinct treatment strategy.
Awake bruxism, also referred to as daytime bruxism, is less prevalent and slightly easier to identify and treat. Teeth clenching or grinding when awake is especially common during bouts of concentration, anger, or stress, and it typically occurs without a person’s awareness.
The most common type of teeth grinding occurs mostly at night while sleeping. You might not realize you have it unless a family member or bed partner hears the noise. Sleep bruxism affects 8% of the general population, with no gender differences [3].
When people are awake, they may notice the following signs and symptoms of nocturnal bruxism:
A dental night guard protects the teeth from damage by dampening the impact of clenching the teeth while sleeping. This cushioned barrier helps to prevent worn-down or chipped teeth, which are two of the most typical effects related to the act of clenching one’s teeth, from occurring.
While getting a proper fit with an OTC mouth guard can be challenging for some people, wearing an over-the-counter dental guard to protect your teeth from grinding or clenching when sleeping is preferable to having no protection at all.
Even if you decide to invest in a custom-fit mouth guard from your dentist, an over-the-counter one may be a viable alternative while you wait for your custom night guard to be completed.
If you want to find out more on how to stop grinding your teeth, click here.
There are three types of over-the-counter mouth guards for teeth grinding:
These are the pre-formed, ready-to-wear over-the-counter mouth guards for teeth grinding. Also known as stock mouthguards, they are usually one size fits all and relatively inexpensive. Orthodontists may recommend this type since it protects delicate tissues while allowing for tooth mobility.
Fitting your boil and bite dental guard is a simple and straightforward process and appears to be the most prevalent form available. All it takes with this type is to submerge it in hot water to soften and then place it in the mouth and shape it around the teeth. Boil and bite mouth guards offer a better fit than stock mouth protectors.
You can also order custom mouth guards for teeth grinding from the comfort of your own home. The company you choose will send you a complete, easy-to-use home kit for taking your teeth impressions. Following that, they will mail you back your custom mouthguard.
Whether you choose a custom mouthguard that you mail away, a simple boil-and-bite guard, or a professional dental guard fitted in person by your dentist, a night mouth guard protects your teeth from damage by creating a physical barrier between your upper and lower teeth.
Here are some points to consider when choosing among the numerous night mouth guard alternatives accessible to you.
You can have your nighttime dental guard manufactured out of see-through plastic to make it nearly undetectable, or you can have it made in any color you like. Most mouth guards are placed over the upper teeth, but you may want a lower guard as well.
People have recently become more aware of the potentially dangerous compounds included in a wide range of plastic products, such as latex, BPA, and phthalates [4].
You might be concerned that these chemicals are in the dental gadget you’ll be using every night, especially since grinding can cause wear and tear on the plastic. If so, you want to look for non-toxic, FDA-approved, and professional dental industry material when purchasing a night guard.
If your nighttime grinding is severe enough that your dentist has prescribed a nighttime dental guard, you may be in danger of regularly wearing it out. Consult your dentist to determine the severity of your problem and whether you’ll require an extra-durable dental guard.
The more at ease you are with your night guard, the more likely you are to wear it. Your mouth guard, on the other hand, should never make you pick between comfort and protection. Both should be included.
If price is a major consideration, it may be tempting to get the cheapest mouth guard you can find. This approach, however, may end up costing you more in the long run by worsening existing issues such as shifting teeth or jaw misalignment. Orthodontic treatments to straighten teeth typically range anywhere from $3,500 to $7,500, depending on the severity of the case.
At best, an over-the-counter dental guard can act as a stopgap measure, preventing further tooth damage while the wearer awaits competent dental or medical care to ascertain the underlying causes of their bruxism.
At worst, an over-the-counter mouth guard may be a factor in exacerbating pre-existing issues, such as TMJ and teeth misalignment, necessitating more extensive treatment once the individual visits the dentist.
While off-the-shelf teeth grinding mouth guards use a plastic thin material, many people find it too thick to sleep comfortably with. Other drawbacks of OTC mouth guards include:
In many cases, relief from the pain and potential dental damage associated with night grinding cannot wait the week or two required to create a custom-made dental guard. Off-the-shelf nighttime dental guards can be fitted in less than three minutes in the comfort of your own home.
An OTC mouth guard is also much cheaper in comparison to visiting your dentist for a pro teeth guard.
While there are many over-the-counter night guards available, every mouth size and shape is different. To make sure you have the device that is right for you, it is recommended that you discuss your options with your dentist. Then you may be confident that you are making the best decision for your dental needs.
Listed here are the answers to some of the most frequently asked questions regarding over-the-counter mouth guards.
Finding the best mouth guard for teeth grinding is difficult. The aforementioned over-the-counter mouth guards are effective, versatile, and long-lasting.
Consider factors such as the shape of your jaw or teeth to determine whether you require a custom made or conventional dental guard before selecting the best dental guard. Ideally, make an appointment with a dentist to address the source of your problem.
