Bite guards, Occlusal Guards, Night Guards, NTI's, Mouth Guards an article by Dr. Kevin Shuster for Prescott eNews.

NTI, Occlusal guard, sports guard....What do all these terms mean? If you're unsure, you are not alone.  But let me assure you from my clinical experience, you are going to want to know about at least one or two of these dental products, but why?  If you suffer from headaches, chipping teeth, worn teeth or tired facial chewing muscles, you will want to keep reading.

With this article we hope to unravel the mystery about all the different mouth guards, bite guards, and occlusal guards, and what the best of these dental appliances can do to make your life better.

The first person that emails me, asking a question about Occlusal guards, and I will do an in depth article about these dental appliances.  The enthusiasm I have for these treatments is growing  many patients are having positive results with some of these appliances.  Now whether the general reading public or patients are as interested, that will be gauged by what response I get to this article. 

Wondering about Occlusal Guards? What are they, and how do they help? 

Night Grinding, or clenching is how many people describe the destructive habit.  Nearly everyone does this clenching and or grinding thier teeth while they sleep.  Most people normally have a high stress episode in thier life when night time clenching and grinding are occurring for them.

Sample Case 

John, a patient from Prescott, now a retired teacher came in for his initial exam, where we noticed some pathological wear (teeth chipping and grinding off unusually fast), and other signs of a destructive and abberant bite.  We reccomended he tryan NTI, I felt fairly confident that he would notice an improvement.  But according to John, we really made a difference in his daily life, with an NTI.

This is what he had to say last week, 

"All I can say is THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I did some research about the NTI after our initial consultation (of which I was very skeptical). I decided to have one custom fit for me and I have been wearing the NTI device for about one month.  

I HAVE NOT HAD ONE INSTANCE OF A PAIN IN MY NECK AND/OR A STIFF NECK SINCE I HAVE STARTED WEARING THE NTI DEVICE AT NIGHT."

A bold statement not only in font size but it is the truth.

I am so excited about the results of NTI therapy. This is the kind of result every health care provider works hard to achieve.  When patients are happier and live better partly because of something we did, that makes all the study and hard work worth everything. We were already having some very encouraging successes with conventional occlusal guards and NTI's (more on that in a moment), but after spending a week in Scottsdale at a global conference on OCCLUSION, we are able to be even more effective on behalf of patients with bite issues.

Time is limiting me a bit this morning.  But one comment should be understood by all people with teeth or hopes of having teeth.

The vast majority of people clenching, grinding, bruxing ARE NOT AWARE THEY ARE DOING IT!

Estimates are over 90%. So if you have some of these symptoms and say to yourself, "I don't believe I'm grinding my teeth,"  you may learn some new things during your exam.  If you have no symptoms or signs or concerns related to pathological (disease causing), parafunctional (teeth touching other than chewing) habits...  If you have no problems, of course, we are primarily concerned with the things that concern you. I hope to listen carefully to you when you come in for your 1-hour appointment, and address the concerns and issues that YOU have.  We don't reccomend NTI, to everyone.  I am not in the business of providing solutions to problems that people don't have.  Because our whole purpose at Willow Creek Dental Care, is to somehow improve your life.

All that being said, 75% of the people that receive treatment for pathological parafunction were unaware they were engaging in the activity.  The reasons for this are not clearly understood, and the implications are profound also. Because this condition has to do with the interrelationship between jaw joints, chewing muscles, and the complexities of the nervous system, AND it often happens during delta wave sleep (when we are virtually unconscious).  It is understandably difficult for people to remember that they were doing it.

SOME BACKROUND INFORMATION ON BRUXISM (night grinding/clenching)

The night time clenching, grinding other para-functional habits are collectively known as "bruxing" and are related to stressful periods of a person's life and can be related to a person's bite being far off.  We usually discover eveidence for bruxing during the examination.  But sometimes people look us up specifically for treatment of a syndrome of: headache, a sort of tense muscle "neck ache" facial pain and very often front teeth chipping.  

It is fairly common for one's sleeping partner or family member to notice that a person is clenching or particularly grinding their teeth while they sleep.  Another sign of this pattern of oral habit is a sensation that the chewing muscles are "tired" at breakfast.  Some of the most common symptoms are several back teeth being sore, achey, loose feeling or cold sensitive, for no other reason.

A quote from our recent patient, "Katy," a new college student from Williamsen Valley. "My teeth quit aching during the first week of wearing my night guard.  My roomate in the dorm, was calling me woodpecker... because of the sound I made tapping my front teeth together." 

There are confirmatory observations that we will make during your examination appointment.  As is true for all treatment that people elect to have or not... we will proceed, when you decide it's what you want to do.

Bad bites can also result in a symptom of vertigo (dizzyness).  This connection in science is fairly new but virtually certain. The United States Air Force will not train pilots for certain critical flight duty if they have foundationally bad bites, due to the pilot's loss of internal horizon.   People with pathological occlusion (a bite so bad, it represents a disease process), often have bad posture associated with the tooth loss.  They actually are leaning their heads, or necks, or are tilted visibly.

The Chirodontics So-Called Chiropractic Dental Connection 

As this relatively new theory is set forth: When a person posturally leans, chronically tilts their head or neck, nerves exiting the spinal column get pinched or have extra normal pressure exerted on them.  This can interfere with theirr ability to conduct normal nerve impulses.  When this happens (let's get a neurologist and chiropractic expert involved in this) people have altered sensations from their extremities, AND have altered unconscious functions to thier organs as they are involved in rest, digestion, immune response etc.  See why many experts in the field of occlusion feel these things are all related and how important whole body health is?  Including having teeth and jaws and joints and nerves all working together. 

If this sounds far-fetched to you, you are not alone. People who are familiar with how the skeleton, nerve conduction and the bodies regulatory systems are having a familiar light come on for them about now. However these factors work on all of us believers and the unaware alike.  I'll be the first to admit that this is a paradigm shift, and not mainstream science yet. It is my opinion, however, that after having been a skeptic since this was presented to me in 2001 at Las Vegas Institute of Advanced Dental Studies, and now having just attended the Global Summit of Occlusion in Scottsdale, Arizona, that this information will be proven to be profoundly helpful and will become the fact of the science of occlusion as more Doctors are exposed to it, and the results of treating this way, continue to demonstrate improvements for patients who are literally suffering.  I'm seeing consistent results in the people comming to us for care, and I want to learn more.

Approval of a curiculum of classes teaching these methods is expected by August of 2008, and I am on the list to be among the first to attend.  Why?  Because it works!

Just in the past 6 months, in the first half of 2007, we have gotten the skills and material together to help so many people with problems they have had most of thier adult life.  This is why I bring this up; The treatments we've been doing with bite adjusting hint at the success that is possible when we build these bite corrections into every crown and filling we do.  

This is the future hope, that we can build peoples teeth back to where they should be and they wouldn't need to wear any device at all, AND they would feel, look and live better than ever. Because of idealized bite, leading to best posture, assisting in optimal health.

This new course of study is extensive and expensive, why would I commit to this?  Because I beleive in my heart that with this new knowledge, technique, and outcome, my office will be able to help people who are suffering, get the best possible outcomes... and do it right here in Prescott, Arizona.  It is my hope that people will live, day by day, better with this new system built into their dental care.  

In the end this is the main goal... for me.  I have some money.  I have been blessed with the true wealth of family; what really motivates me to arrive at work early on Monday, is the chance to significantly help someone with what we do.  I am at that age (some grey hair) when causing joy in someone's life is the biggest joy I can experience.  We don't get to do it often enough, but that is actually our mission statement, now.  To cause joy in others, by the application of dental skill, caring and judgement.

Wow all that, from a bite guard?  Yes, anecdotally..... it is matching my observations, but that doesn't make it science yet.  As with all treatments you have to weigh the potential benefits against the risks and alternatives.  Discuss your options with me when you come in or with the dentist you've come to trust.... and you may find that an NTI, or other occlusal guard are worth trying.  

"All things, connected are.  Thou can'st disturb a flower, without troubling a star"...   Unknown 

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