Doctor’s Night Guard

Since biting down on a popcorn kernel in the early 80’s I’ve had problems with my TMJ. I had headaches all of the time and I could hardly open up my mouth. Eventually it would lead to an experimental surgery, where bilateral silastic joints were put in. And from that point on I had to wear a night guard to protect my joints and prevent grinding. Back then the night guard was specially and custom made with a dentist at the oral facial maxilla clinic at the medical college. I have also had a few made at the dentist office. But they have to be semi soft because the hard kind are not tolerated. Eventually things changed and I have been using the Doctor’s Night Guard for many years. And any time I have dental work on the upper teeth, a new one must be made to accommodate the new shape of the teeth - most recently a crown. You can now make them using a microwave, but I opted for the old fashion boiling water approach. It is quite the production but at least there is a product out there that serves the purpose. There may even be better ones but this one seems to work. The only problem is that the spaces between my front upper teeth seem to getting bigger - which makes for an awkward smile. I don’t think much can be done about it and I’m not about to get braces. And getting older makes for moveable teeth. I’m really not happy about it but will need to live with it. Luckily the TMJ surgery worked. I can’t imagine having to live with headaches and a closed mouth.