Teeth Grinding Mouth guard

Shandon

I've been told I'm damaging my teeth by grinding at night and will need a mouth guard. This will cost 350 euro apparently.
I've since heard that it could be because I bite my finger nails too.
My question is does anyone have any recent experience of these and how much did they pay for them? Are there cheaper alternatives?
I had a search through old threads and most recent I could find was 2012 and someone had a quote of 140 euro. Have they gone up that much since then?

bluecherry74

I wear one and got a new one 2 days ago - it cost €120 from my regular dentist. €350 is way too much to pay unless it's something completely different to what I have!

capnsparkles

There are different types of mouth guards to wear at night.
They can range from soft plastic , to heat cured acrylic to chrome cobalt.
Cost could be from €80 to €1500.
The idea is that you grind the mouth guard which is softer than your teeth , thus the mouth guard wears and not your teeth.
There are mouth guards that work on the theory that your jaw relationship is not ideal and that it is dictated by the teeth and not the muscles of mastication. These guards are adjusted to put the jaw into a muscle dictated position and thus help eliminate the muscle hyperactivity that leads to grinding(bruxism).
I have worn both and made both. There is a lot of work in the flat plane splints or the anterior repositioning splint. These are what I would expect to be costly.
The simpler splints should be cheaper , ask what type you are getting.

btkm8unsl0w5r4

As above, there are soft and hard splints, there are also the so called bilaminar which have a soft inside and a hard outside.

Generally soft splints are only for short term use and actually increase muscle activation if worn long term. Soft splints are not good as grinding appliances. They are pretty cheap to have made.

Hard splints can be of various forms, some are made in the dental surgery and some in the laboratory. The cost from the laboratory does not include the clinical time to make impressions and the adjustment and checking of the splint, no more than the cost of nails and timber has much to do with the price of a piece of custom furnature. Hard splints are generally longer lasting and good for grinding, protecting dental work and helping with chrinic jaw pain issues.

Hard/Soft splints are in vogue however they have some of the advantages and disadvantages of both types.

Every time the splint topic come up we get threads where apples are compared to oranges. One persons experience is not directly applicable to the OP's situation and seeking a cheaper inferior splint could actually be damaging for their oral health.

The cost of not wearing a splint if you need one, is cracking teeth, breaking dental work and have to have extractions and or sore jaws, they are totally worth paying for and can save you tens of thousands in prevention.