taking care of the choppers

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]