Night Guards

If you grind or clench your teeth at night, you’re far from alone — and often, you won’t even know you’re doing it. It’s usually a partner, or one of our dentists, who spots the tell-tale signs first: worn or flattened tooth edges, jaw ache, or headaches on waking.

We treat this with a Michigan splint — a precision-made, hard acrylic guard worn predominantly at night.

Every dentist in our practice is skilled in fitting these, drawing on training that leans on an American approach to occlusal splint design, valued for how effectively it manages complex bite cases.

❉ What a Michigan splint actually does

A well-made splint does far more than simply create a barrier between your teeth.

It’s designed to redistribute the forces of your bite more evenly, taking pressure off teeth and jaw muscles that are otherwise absorbing far more than they should.

Over time, it can also help break the habit pattern behind the grinding itself — the learned muscle-and-nerve response (sometimes called a neuromuscular “engram”) that keeps the clenching cycle going, often without you noticing.

❉ A growing part of how we plan treatment

We’re seeing more and more patients present with symptoms linked to grinding or clenching habits — headaches, jaw pain, a locked or clicking jaw, broken or worn teeth, teeth that feel loose, or unexplained sensitivity.

For many of these patients, a night splint isn’t just a solution once damage has occurred — it’s becoming an integral, preventative part of how we plan treatment from the outset, addressing the underlying habit before it causes further harm.

❉ Part of a bigger picture

We rarely see a night splint as treatment in isolation.

If grinding is linked to stress or tension, we’ll often talk with you about lifestyle factors alongside it — sleep, workload, how you’re managing day-to-day pressure — and where relevant, complementary approaches like massage therapy or relaxation techniques that some patients find genuinely helpful in reducing muscle tension.

We’ll always keep this grounded and practical, tailored to what actually fits your life, rather than a one-size-fits-all prescription.

❉ Protecting your investment

If you’ve had more extensive treatment with us — a full mouth reconstruction, veneers, work on tooth wear, or composite bonding — a night splint often becomes an essential part of protecting that investment.

Grinding forces that would be uncomfortable on natural teeth can be enough to damage or shorten the life of restorative and cosmetic work, so for many of these cases, we build a splint into your treatment plan from the outset, not as an afterthought.