DenTek Ultimate Guard for Nighttime Teeth Grinding

Pay attention to the reviews. If you have slightly misaligned teeth or jaw, DO NOT USE A MICROWAVE OVEN TO FIT IT! - like the instructions suggest.What happens is that the white tray that holds the guard during fitment is designed to work with perfectly aligned teeth. If your teeth or jaw are slightly misaligned, fitment will be difficult and potentially painful if you use a microwave oven. This is because the microwave oven will soften the blue material of the guard itself, but not the white tray.I recommend boiling water in a pot and submerging the entire thing in it. This will cause both guard and the hard plastic of the white tray to become flexible at the same time, and if you have misaligned teeth/jaw, this will do the trick. The tray will then accommodate itself to the irregularities of your mouth.Overall, this is a very good mouth guard. It has a "minimalist" profile that I find quite comfortable.By comparison, I also have the regular Dentek "Professional Fit." That one is easier to fit, but it is more uncomfortable to use because it has a lot of material. It feels like a sports guard, kind of bulky and intrusive. The material is hard too.The Ultimate Guard is not bulky at all. Because of the small profile, it could fall off. If you sleep facing up and tend to open your mouth in that position, that could be a problem! But if you sleep sideways (like most people), then no problem.

I bought this mouth guard last fall, because I was having tooth pain from grinding in my sleep. It worked great for a while as it’s small and comfortable but I did have issues with it staying in place. I woke up a few times when it had fallen out and I was chewing on it in my sleep, but I didn’t think much of it.Until the fateful night, I woke up at 3 am seconds after having swallowed the mouth guard. I felt it go down my throat and then felt it LODGE ITSELF IN MY ESOPHAGUS. This was incredibly painful.Every time I swallowed I could feel my saliva sit on top of the lodged mouth guard before painfully making its way past. I could literally feel exactly where it was sitting in my chest. I ended up having to go to the ER to having the foreign object removed from my esophagus. Luckily it didn’t do any damage to my esophagus and it was removed in a 4 minute procedure, but OH MY GOD DO NOT BUT THIS PRODUCT. It costed me a couple thousand dollars after insurance in hospital bills to remove. It is way too small and does not stay in place well enough.It is not worth it just buy a bigger bulkier one. Sure the bulkier ones aren’t as comfortable but let me tell you what’s uncomfortable. HAVING A PIECE OF PLASTIC LODGED IN YOUR ESOPHAGUS.

I’m purchasing my third guard. I like to replace mine every 6 months or so. This guard is great. I love that it’s smaller and doesn’t cover my front teeth. I’m grinding my molars so no reason to cover the front. It took a night to get used to it because the guard sticks to your top teeth. Once I got used to it I realized how genius that is because it allows you to talk and drink fairly normally with it in. It also stays in place so there’s no risk of it falling out of place. Not sure what other reviews are talking about with the setup process. The boiling water instructions were super easy. Some folks are complaining that it’s very hard and difficult to mold around your teeth. I think maybe they’re not realizing that you don’t need to make a deep impression for this to work. It’s not like a sports guard or a full mouth guard. You just need a light impression of your top molars for this to work. I’ve been wearing this for over a year now and my headaches and teeth sensitivity are significantly reduced. Such an affordable solution to an issue I’ve had for years.

Full disclosure, I attempted to use this on my lower teeth, which is not what it’s intended for. That aside, I have no idea how this is supposed to work for top teeth either.I followed the instructions to boil water and then place the guard, still in the holder, into the water for 3 minutes. When I then but down on it, nothing happened. My teeth barely left an imprint.As directed, I boiled the water again and put it back in. This time one side smooshed a little but the other side didn’t.I did this again a 3rd time, all the while noticing that the guard was shrinking each time, and when I pulled it out of the water to try again, the guard fell out of the holder. It was too small to put back in at that point, as the flat parts were too close together to even go back into the flat parts of the tray.This was honestly a disaster, but I’m giving it 3 stars since I recognize that it wasn’t designed for lower teeth. I can’t see it working for top teeth, either, but I hope it works for you if you try it.

I've tried three or four different brands of night guards since I started wearing them 3 years ago for nighttime jaw clenching. I don't seem to grind my teeth, but I do clench my jaw-- and my dentist noticed damage to my enamel that I didn't have any idea was happening.This nightguard is impossible to soften in the microwave as directed, but I had much better results boiling it in a pot of water for about 3 minutes. BE CAREFUL retrieving it from the boiling water, and BE CAREFUL putting a boiled piece of plastic in your mouth. This should be apparent.The good thing is that you can reboil/resoften the guard as many times as needed if the fitting doesn't work. Once you get it fitted and set you're good.I have noticed that within a few months, my lower teeth have started to abrade troughs of wear against the lower part of the night guard-- more proof that this is needed because otherwise this wear would be happening against my TEETH.My only concern is that grinding off these flakes of plastic in my mouth, although "BPA free", might not be... great for my health? Microplastics anyone? Either way, this relatively slim guard has helped a lot and doesn't impede my sleep. I also haven't had any issues with swallowing it like some people, but I sleep with my mouth closed.