Both are pieces of moulded plastic you wear over your teeth, and that is where the similarity ends. One protects your teeth from you. The other protects them from everyone else.
If you clench or grind in your sleep, your teeth press against each other for hours at a time. A night guard puts a layer between the top and bottom teeth so the plastic takes the wear instead of your enamel.
It is thin, firm and made to fit closely. You wear it in bed.
A sports guard is thicker and softer. Its job is to spread the force of a knock, so a hit to the face does not chip a tooth. Think hockey, rugby, basketball, martial arts or skateboarding, and anywhere else an elbow can find your mouth.
A night guard will not do this job. It is too thin and too hard, and it can crack under a heavy impact.
The boil and bite kind works for a season if you are lucky. The problem is fit. You soften it in hot water and press it onto your teeth, and the result is close but never precise.
A guard with a loose fit moves while you sleep, and some people wake up with it on the pillow. Others find it makes the clenching worse. The jaw hunts for a steady position all night and never finds one.
A guard made from an impression of your own teeth does not move. That is the difference.
We take a scan or an impression of your teeth, check how your bite comes together, and send that to our lab. Ours is in the same building, so the guard is made a few steps from the chair it will be fitted in.
That usually means fewer visits and quicker adjustments. If it presses in one spot, we can ease it while you wait instead of mailing it away.
The wear pattern on a night guard is useful. It shows us where the force goes, and whether the grinding is getting better or worse.
If you wake with a sore jaw, it is a night guard. If you play a contact sport, it is a sports guard, and if both then you need both. Our mouth guards London Ontario page covers what we make, how the fitting works, and how to book on 519-472-4460.
