Price of customised night guard for teeth grinding

[lou49]

Had one of these a few years ago but I lost it (used to wake up and find it on the pillow next to me. Very romantic)

Having just had a root canal plus another filling I am thinking of getting another one. My dentist (private) is good, have been going to him for nearly 8 years, but this morning he told me the approximate cost for a new guard would be about £600! Whew! He reckons I need another one and so do I - but is this price reasonable?
It would be for a hard night guard.

Would really appreciate any comments from the wonderful dentists on this forum.
Oh - dentist (and me) are in north London so London prices!

TIA

[Toothsmith]

Hard bite guards do take a fair bit of adjustment, and can be very time consuming to adust correctly.

It's quite a lot dearer than I charge, but I tend to make pretty simple ones that dentists with a 'real' interest in occlusion tend to turn their noses up at!! Mine seem to work though!!

You could ask if there was a cheaper alternative I suppose.

[oystercatcher]

I had a silicone (I think) flexible mouthguard made privately by my NHS dentist for £65 a couple of months ago. For similar reasons to you.

Oystercatcher

[Beebop]

I suffer from teeth grinding and after a lot of work on my teeth, I had a flexible mouthgaurd made by my dentist (again, privately) last month and it cost me £25....
(Now I'm glad I don't have to deal with London prices :eek: )

[PinkGrapefruit]

I have a relative who grinds his teeth at night, he uses a mouthguard that boxers use, you can get them from sports shops for about £1, he says it has solved the problem (the grinding was causing jaw problems). Might be worth a go before shelling out £600 - eek!

[Kavanne]

I got one free off the NHS (through GP referral to hospital)

3 month wait for it though.

[SparkyG]

My dentist, (N. London-Herts border) charges £78 pounds for a 'sports' nightguard for tooth grinding. Made by Playsafe mouthguards, tel: 081 361 4075 (it's on the box!!), but they don't deal direct with the public.

[coldstreamalways]

A proper night guard for dealing with occlusion type problems almost certainly won't be flexible. I have made one hard acrylic guard since I left Uni (granted I'm a baby and have only been practicing for 4 years) and it cost about £80 to have made and in total, it took about four hours of my time. I left the practice about six months afterwards and they are probably still adjusting it. Because I was a newby, I did it on the NHS (before new contract) NEVER AGAIN!

It was such a loss maker, when you factor in the fact that a dental surgery costs at least £90 an hour to keep open (before the dentist gets paid) you can see why they are so expensive. Now I'm a bit more experienced, I would expect to spend about 2-2.5hours on one of these Even so, that's a considerable amount of time.

They are a precision bit of kit and hard to get right. £600 for London is probably not excessive.

[BlueNose]

Hi just thought I would get my bit in... excuse the pun.. but I got a guard to wear at night... I know not the most romantic a few years ago and it cost me about £80. I did not mind paying that but wish I had known about the item from sports shop. I think £600 is a bit.... steep... I know I am Scottish! :rolleyes2

[donteatthat]

I make them out of metal these days- they don't break after 18 months or so, they are much more comfortable to wear as they are thinner than the soft or acrylic ones, and they don't act as an exerciser to make the muscles stronger like the soft squishy kind do. But the costs on these are high, the lab bill is around £400 but it will last a looooooonnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggg time.

[coldstreamalways]

Do you get them in CoCr? I must be honest I've never seen a metal one but then my patient base don't really go in for anything like that!

[Toothsmith]

Wow !
I'd never heard of metal ones either! You must either have a really good lab, or a heavy duty angle grinder for all the adjustment!!

[lostinrates]

I make them out of metal these days- they don't break after 18 months or so, they are much more comfortable to wear as they are thinner than the soft or acrylic ones, and they don't act as an exerciser to make the muscles stronger like the soft squishy kind do. But the costs on these are high, the lab bill is around £400 but it will last a looooooonnnnnnnnnnnnngggggggg time.


The breaking is an issue. DH wearsa flexible one, and has tried various ones ranging from the cheaper dentist ones to the very expensive ones. He has found the longest lasting are ones you drop in hot water and put in the mouth, and are much cheaper, BUT the ones he bought in UK wore through immeadiately: he gets his in Italy.....three years wear on it now!

If a metal one would be more comfortable it might be an idea....:confused:

[donteatthat]

The problem with soft ones is that they exercise the muscles so strengthen them and the grinding power is MUCH worse the instant they aren't worn. Terrible.
Yes - they are made out of CoCr, but you need a very good technician - PM me if you want to know who makes them. And you just use...er...burs to adjust them lol - but with good imps ( impregum / metal trays) and a good registration there shouldn't be too much to adjust if they've had a preliminary deprogrammer. Prestige now supply the little lucia jig templates that previously seemed to only come from the USA also.
I'll shut up now at risk of boring the non-dentists lol

[Teerah]

Never heard of a metal one either! How thick are they occlusally? The hard acyrlic ones work for me

[SparkyG]

The problem with soft ones is that they exercise the muscles so strengthen them and the grinding power is MUCH worse the instant they aren't worn. Terrible.

I'll shut up now at risk of boring the non-dentists lol

Omg! Are you telling me I'm just strengthening my muscles and making the grinding worse by occasionally using my Playsafe sports type mouthguard? My dentist told me to use it only when particularly stressed or anxious, and it wasn't necessary to wear it every night.

I know you don't want to give conflicting advice against another professional, especially when you haven't seen the mouth in question;) , but please don't 'shut up now' because you are certainly not 'boring the non-dentists'.

[Toothsmith]

Hmm - this could easily be a can of worms.

Donteatthat is a very skilled young lady working in a referral implant practice.

I am an 'ordinary' GP dentist.

We see things at a different perspective.

Us at the coal face see all sorts of minor occlusal problems every day - and I must admit that I treat the vast majority of mine with soft bite guards (I wouldn't ever recommend a boil in the bag type gumshield for the job though!) It might be placebo, even but what the heck - it seems to help a lot of people!

Up at D.E.T's end, she sees all sorts of very complex complete rebuild cases where VERY bad grinding habits - and yes - habits that may have been made worse by the sort of thing I provide - have really destroyed mouths.

These cases to me are a-few-times-in-a-career cases, but to her are everyday occurances. They really do need very precise devices to help sort out and maintain their condition.

If I ever find that my squishy ones aren't helping, then I move up to the hard ones. If they don't seem to work, then I discuss referral to someone like D.e.t. with my patients. I would hope I can spot them in good time, and refer before major damage is done.

Sometimes though, just explaining the costs involved in seeing a specialist like her, work even better than the bite guards at curing the problems!!! :D

Bottom line Sparky - if wearing your mouthguard seems to be helping, then that's fine - it probably is. If it isn't then it's time to move a notch up the ladder.

[Francesanne]

My N.H.S. dentist charged me £200.00 and I've only worn the horrible thing twice. It made me gag and that put me off. Mine is quite filmsy so maybe your's is better quality. I live in North London but my dentist from childhood is based in West London.

[Toothsmith]

My N.H.S. dentist charged me £200.00 and I've only worn the horrible thing twice. It made me gag and that put me off. Mine is quite filmsy so maybe your's is better quality. I live in North London but my dentist from childhood is based in West London.

Your dentist charged you the correct NHS price!

Anything that needs a lab to make it is a Band 3 treatment, and the band 3 charge is £198. That's the rule.

You'd have been better off spending £80 with a private dentist.

[donteatthat]

Blimey thats a big compliment TS lol I'm not that flash he he.
I have a lot of general practice patients as well as the complicated ones, but I do see a lot of people with pretty mashed up teeth and bites from piecemeal patch up treatment and isolated items of treatment done without a full mouth consideration that over time have left them with a pretty unstable dental situation.
I also get quite a few "youngsters" who have ground away merrily on their unrestored teeth til they are very worn at a young age and need rebuilding.
Sometimes I guess for whatever reason the soft splints are some are going to be able to have, although with us we would cost in often an acrylic splint intially and then a metal one at the end of treatment.
Like TS says - if the soft splints are not working (and there are papers that show a good placebo effect with these things) then an acrylic one is going to be better.
Each case has to be assessed on it's own individual situation, and I'm wary of getting wrist slap on the medical advice thing here - the best person to advise is going to be your own dentist based on their treatment philosophy and I guess whether they have the time / facilities / experience to provide alternatives to the soft splint.

[Olympika]

I am having awful dental problems, mainly related to bulimia... Seems I also suffer from bruxism and I have been wearing a 'Bitesoft' acrylic guard since last Friday. I was assured it would last at least 12 months but there are already significant signs of the grinding on the inside, with grroves about 1-2mm deep... Being realistic, this guard isn't going to last anywhere near 12 months, is it? I am on Denplan so only paid for lab costs and it worked out as £130. Is there anything else I can do? I have got 5 chipped teeth and a crack in one or two as a result of the grinding... TIA

[Toothsmith]

£130 seems very dear for the lab fee for a soft bite guard.

I would go back if it seems to be wearing quickly.

[Olympika]

Thanks toothsmith, that's what I thought... am back tomorrow anyway so will take it with me then and ask.