Protect Your Teeth, Bite & Jaw
At Accent Smile Center, find your custom mouth guard for sports or a night guard to help prevent nighttime clenching, grinding, and TMJ.
Get a Custom Sports Guard
Clenching your teeth is a natural part of your fight-or-flight instinct. But, when you clench your teeth, you trigger the release of hormones that sap your performance, like cortisol, and you reduce airflow through your throat.
You diminish your strength, power, and speed and increase lactic acid. This ironic frailty prevents you from performing at your best — in many cases, when you need to most.
What’s more, it can even negatively impact your health. Whether you're a high school athlete playing a contact sport such as football, basketball, soccer, softball, baseball, wrestling, lacrosse, volleyball, rugby, track or cross country, you could benefit tremendously from this performance-enhancing technology.
Stay in the Game
We custom-fit an custom mouthpiece for you by taking an impression of your teeth and bite registration.
Call our office today to schedule an appointment for your custom-fit mouthpiece.
Learn More About Night Guards
Do You Grind or Clench Your Teeth?
If you clench or grind your teeth at night, you may want an occlusal guard. An occlusal guard is a custom-fabricated mouthguard worn over the teeth to protect them against damage caused by clenching or grinding.
It works by creating a physical barrier between your upper and lower teeth so that you bite against the guard rather than wearing down your teeth. Most people are unaware that they grind (also called bruxism) or clench their teeth as it usually happens when they are sleeping.
It's often a sleeping person’s partner who first notices they're grinding their teeth. People tend to go through phases of grinding their teeth, such as during times of stress.
It is during these times that you may need to wear an occlusal night guard to prevent permanent damage to your teeth. During a patient’s initial exam and visit, Dr. Gatgens will evaluate each patient to look for signs and symptoms to recognize this disease called occlusal disease.
Our goal is to protect the teeth from future wear and damage that could be costly and cause you pain.
Treat Bad Habits With a Preventative Oral Device
The POD is a patented oral device that Dr. Gatgens can use to prevent tooth damage caused by harmful oral habits like clenching, grinding, and TMJ.
What Is the POD?
The POD is an intraoral mandibular splint custom-made to fit your mouth. The device protects your teeth, crowns, veneers, and restorations from the damage that comes from Bruxism and helps alleviate symptoms related to TMD.
How Does the POD Work?
If Dr. Gatgens recommends a POD for your smile, you’ll wear the guard every night when you sleep. The device separates the dental arches to prevent grinding and clenching at night and help alleviate headaches.
Other benefits of POD include:
- Custom-made design to guarantee the best results for your smile
- High-quality, biocompatibility-tested material for a comfortable fit
- Improved breathing quality while sleeping
- Allows full range of movement so you can talk, drink water, or yawn
- Covered by some insurance plans (just ask our team!)
Who Can Benefit From POD?
The POD is great for treating symptoms caused by TMJ to improve your quality of life. If you’ve been suffering from headaches, jaw pain or soreness, Bruxism, or muscle tension, POD can help you get relief.
When you schedule your first visit to our Dickson office, Dr. Gatgens can determine if the POD is right for your unique needs.