Wearing a mouthguard is weird.
I had to order one because I’ve been super-stressed what with the strike and all, and have been grinding my teeth when I sleep, leading to some fairly irritating jaw pain.
I’d done this before when I was unemployed, and my dentist had suggested $1500 worth of contraptions to prevent recurrence, but I got my current job shortly after that suggestion, and the grinding subsided.
Doing some research, I discovered that for most people, the $1500 kit is severe overkill, and the $15 boil-and-bite mouthguards you can pick up for sports tend to do well enough.
I’m trying it tonight for the first time, and the instructions suggested leaving it in my mouth for a while to get used to it.
It’s a really bizarre feeling, but I think the fact that I’m utterly exhausted should help with trying to get to sleep, since I’ve been ready to pass out all damn day.
Anyway, off to give this a shot. I guess if I can’t sleep, I’m covered if I want to go out and participate in a boxing match or tackle football game instead.
Oh, duh. The name Paul probably should have given it away.
Sorry to hear about your teeth (oh yeah, and the strike of course…). There was an article in yesterday’s NY Times about what to do: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/13/health/13grin.html?em&ex=1195189200&en=c0e196a09014d314&ei=5087
Hang in there!
What’s interesting in that article is that she doesn’t really say where her assertion that the cheapo mouthguards can cause permanent damage came from. I’d be interested to see if there’s actually been any studies done on that, or if it’s just her dentist trying to sell her on the $300 version (and shit, if my dentist had a $300 version, I might actually consider it, but he wants to sell me the $1500 version).
I’m relying heavily on anecdotal evidence, but everyone I’ve talked to that grinds their teeth asserts that the expensive ones tend to be a waste of money.
Yeah, who knows. But notice that the article’s author is a HE, not a SHE (I appreciated that he was upfront about his boyfriend, with no need to discuss his sexuality since it was irrelevant to the rest of the article.) Oh liberal New York Times, you’re the living end!