taking care of the choppers

[lilamp]

so i've been on the good dental hygiene kick since i visited the dentist a few weeks ago. i've been flossing! i've been brushing at work during the day! i've been using a fluoride rinse at night! i bought a sonicare toothbrush! i went back for a cleaning this past wednesday, and they complimented me on my efforts and said it had already made a noticeable difference. i now have two appointments next month for fillings, woo.

but here's the question. delta dental of course does not cover occlusal guards, because they are optional equipment or some such thing, never mind that it's a fantastic preventative device that keeps people from needing thousands of dollars worth of reconstructive work later on... the problem this leaves me with is that a custom occlusal guard costs $350. $350?! seems like an awful lot to pay for a little piece of plastic, even if it's custom molded to my teeth, no? i asked the dental hygienist if the $20 drugstore guards were any good, and she said actually she'd recommend trying the cheaper sports ones over those, because they aren't really malleable enough at all. so:

[Poll #345639]

Comments

[surpheon.livejournal.com]

I'm assuming you're talking about a teeth guard to prevent grinding? It took my dentist (since fired by me) three tries to make one that fit me. The first one was too small (she had slipped and cracked off a part of the positive mold) and very, very painful to wear. I now have some sympathy for the poor suckers who had braces. I did finally get one that works great, although my last - very expensive but good, dentist actually said the best type to get is a hard plastic style one. For about $1100. So it could be worse...

[thatgirljj.livejournal.com]

Well, mine ran about the same and it's coming up on it's 10th anniversary and still going strong. For $35 a year, you'll be happy to have something that's durable and truly fits well.

[spider88.livejournal.com]

My custom-nightguard cost me $650, and not only molds to my teeth, but was designed in such a way that keeps my jaw joints in the healthiest position. It was/is worth the money.

[lilamp]

wow, i had no idea these things were so expensive. i guess $350 isn't that bad!

[reeser.livejournal.com]

I remember back when we were kids, Nevin bought this NFL mouthguard. I wasn't sure why he wanted it. I do remember that fitting it involved dunking it in boiling water so as to soften the plastic, and then biting into it so that it moulds exactly to the shape of your teeth and your mouth.

[rebbyribs.livejournal.com]

My thinking is this: try getting a sports mouthgaurd. A lot of them can be molded in boiling water, and they are really cheap. Try it out for a few weeks, and see if it makes a difference to you. Talk to your dentist about it when you go back for the fillings and see if the damage from tooth-grinding is continuing. If it is, then you're probably going to have to go for the expensive guard. But if not, then you stopped the tooth-grinding earlier than if you'd waited for the custom guard, and you also saved yourself a bunch of money.