Over the last few weeks I have been struggling with clinching my teeth at night. So after a few nights of being woken up by the pain, I finally called my dentist. He didn't note any real damage to the enamel but he went ahead and took impressions for a bite guard to be made.
A week later the guard came back from the lab and we popped it in there to see how it fit. OWWWW!!!
Now this thing is hard plastic made to "click in" on the top teeth. Well it didn't click... it crunched and I squealed. He said he's never heard one of these make so much noise and he was startled by the noise I made because in the 30 years I've been going to him, I hardly ever complained of pain. After 30 minutes of him putting it in, me pointing out what hurt and then him grinding down spots he said to try it for the weekend and then come back on Monday AM to make any additional adjustments.
That night I clicked it in, Eric proceeded to tease me, and I went to sleep. I woke up sometime in the middle of the night to memories of braces as my gums were swollen, at least one tooth had moved so I couldn't bite fully for half a day and the insides of my lips and cheeks were swollen & sore. That thing was taken out and did not return to my mouth until this morning in the chair.
I asked him... "What's the deal with sending me home with a torture device?"
More adjustments were made and hopefully tonight it won't hurt so much and will keep me aware of my clinching so I will stop. I'm getting pretty tired of soft foods! And um.... that bite guard so doesn't bring on the sexy! Especially the drooling part.
11 comments:
Yikes! I hope your tooth moved back in place!
I use (at my dentist's recommendation) the cheap $20 soft toothguards from CVS. You boil them and them bite into them for the initial "fitting". Depending on how much you chomp at night, it'll last about 3-12 months.
Of course, I got tired of putting it in every night, so now I don't use it anymore.
Oh, hope it's better tonight.
Bad memories of braces, headgears and retainers... ugh!
Ouch! I guess I am lucky to never have had braces or anything other than cavities. But damn, I had a lot of those.
I have a bite guard that I sometimes wear. It sucks. But it fits, kinda, and didn't hurt. Yours sounds crazy bad.
Wow Cherry, that sound like you're trading one type of pain for another. Hope it gets better soon.
Oh my gosh! Hope it stops hurting so much :( I totally feel for you! That's not fun!
I do the teeth clenching thing too sometimes. I never thought of a bite guard though! I can see how it may not be the sexiest thing to bring into the bedroom though! ;)
I had one of those things. I think I suffocated for a full month before I got used to it. Well, sort of. I would wake up in the mornings and discover that I had taken it out in my sleep and threw it across the room. Hated it with a passion.
I'm so sorry you have to deal with the torture device!
I wear "trays" with flouride in them at night and they scrape my gums and I'll wake up once in awhile with a killer mouth ache. But your guard sounds positively awful.
I must be one twisted person that I was waiting to see WHO these hot bite guards were!!!! Oh man, I need some serious help!!! lol!
I have one of them too because I am a huge teeth nasher. I got fitted for a mouth guard two years ago. I thought I was going to blow chunks in the dentist office. He had to cut off part of the guard because I have a horrible gag reflex. I wear it now every so often, but I still gag every time! I hate that thing. I hope it becomes a bit more comfortable for you.
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