Grinding your teeth at night quietly burns away enamel, cracks fillings, and leaves you with a sore jaw every morning. A custom night guard from Annapolis Dental Center in Annapolis stops the damage at the source, with a slim fit you will actually wear.
What Grinding Does While You Sleep
Nighttime clenching and grinding (bruxism) creates forces many times stronger than chewing. Over months and years it flattens chewing surfaces, cracks molars, fractures fillings, chips edges, and inflames the joint that opens your jaw. The damage is slow enough that most patients do not connect their morning headaches to a habit happening eight hours earlier.
We can usually read the pattern in your mouth at a glance: flattened cusps, hairline cracks, notches near the gumline, a partner who hears the noise. Once we confirm it, protection is straightforward, and the earlier the guard, the more natural tooth you get to keep for life.
- Morning jaw tension or temple headaches
- Sensitive, flattened, or chipped teeth
- Cracked fillings and worn edges
- A partner hearing grinding sounds
Custom vs. Over-the-Counter
Drugstore boil-and-bite guards promise a lot and deliver a drawer full of rubber. They fit loosely, trigger gag reflexes, change your bite over weeks of poor contact, and feel bulky enough that most quit within a month. A custom guard is made from models of your teeth and adjusted to your bite, so it distributes force evenly and stays in place while you turn over.
The lab-made difference shows in material too. Custom guards use layered dental-grade polymers built to take nightly pressure for years. That comfort and durability is why dentist-made guards have such a consistent habit of actually being worn. To round out stubborn cases, we pair guards with TMJ treatment care that addresses root causes.
- Slim, smooth fit that stays in place
- Force spread evenly across the bite
- Dental-grade materials, not store rubber
- Quick, free adjustments at follow-up
Getting Your Guard
Two easy visits stand between you and safer sleep
Examine and Map
We document wear patterns, check your jaw muscles, and confirm the right guard design for your case.
Capture the Model
A comfortable digital or mold impression gives the lab the exact contours of your teeth and bite.
Custom Delivery
We fit the finished guard, trim anything that rubs, and show you how to seat and clean it.
Follow-Up
A short check-in confirms the fit and that your jaw signs are actually improving as expected.
Protection That Pays For Itself
Protects What You Have Invested
Grinding chews through crowns, veneers, and implants just as happily as enamel. A guard protects both.
Relief for Aching Jaws
By evening out force and letting muscles rest, most patients report noticeably calmer mornings within weeks.
Payment Flexibility
PPO benefits, Cherry financing, and membership discounts all keep a protective guard comfortably in reach.
Fitted by a Team That Knows TMJ
Guards designed at Annapolis Dental Center come with a real understanding of jaw mechanics behind them.